CAMDEN — Tom Jackson heads up the Mt. Battie star program, a position he inherited from Bob Oxton. In November, the star takes up its position atop Mt. Battie and burns brightly every night through Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve.

On Saturday, Jan. 3, nine volunteers took to the star to remove it for the year. It’s been that way since 1966.

“It’s cold today, but not bad, there’s no wind,” said Dave Walck. “In November when we put it up, the wind was just howling.”

This is the third star to grace Mt. Battie since 1966.

The first star was made out of wood, and there have been two generations of metal stars.

The star holds 100 regular household light bulbs. It’s a bit tricky to remove the bulbs as they all have to be removed before the star can come down. One person holds the light bulb and seven people turn the tower.   

The Friends of Mt. Battie are looking to raise $100,000 in hopes of repairing the cracks in the tower and repairing, or rebuilding the stairs.

Current estimates for repairing the stairs are running $15,000 to $18,000 and as high as $25,000 to replace them.

Randy Stearns of Friends of Mt. Battie said the state will be conducting a survey of the tower this Tuesday and that will determine the extent of the repairs needed.

“Any left over money will be put into an endowment for future repairs,” said Stearns. “That way, every couple of years we can do repairs as they’re needed without another fund-raising effort.”

The star will be put to bed in the Rankin’s barn in Hope for the year.

In November, it’s moved to the old Fuller Chevrolet garage in Rockport where it is checked and readied to be moved to the tower and assembled.

Stearns said it takes roughly two to three hours to assemble the star and about an hour to disassemble each year.

Randy Stearns and Heather Moran will be guests of WRFR on Monday morning at 7 a.m. to talk about Friends of Mt. Battie and what they are trying to achieve.