An ice sculpture with the Bath Winterfest logo sits on the corner of Front and Centre streets in downtown Bath. The culture was made to celebrate Bath's inaugural Winterfest. Kathleen O'Brien / The Times Record

Main Street Bath held its inaugural Winterfest celebration, which featured a lantern parade, activities for children, ice carvings and fire dancers, in downtown Bath on Saturday and Sunday.

Though it’s the first time the organization has hosted the festival, Main Street Bath Director Amanda McDaniel said city leaders have been interested in creating a downtown winter festival for years. The main challenges were first designing a festival that was different from other winter celebrations in Maine, McDaniel said, then gathering enough resources and volunteers to bring it to life.

Regardless of those challenges, McDaniel said she’d like to make Winterfest an annual community event.

“This time of year, after the holidays, is really difficult for any small business in Maine,” said McDaniel. “We wanted to bring joviality and light during this dark season. We want people to come away from this with a warm memory.”