Each Christmas holiday season, the Maine Pops Concert Band partners with local organizations to perform holiday benefit concerts for local charities.
This year, the Maine Pops returned to the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, ME to perform its 2025 holiday benefit concert on Sunday, December 14 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. This year, the beneficiaries were Project G.R.A.C.E. and the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland’s Pet Food Pantry.
It is the second consecutive year the band has conducted its holiday benefit at Westbrook. With the growth of the Maine Pops Concert Band to a membership of over 100 musicians, fitting the entire band into a small or mid-sized chapel/sanctuary is no longer possible.
The band performed 14 holiday selections for the concert:
Overture to a Winter Festival – arranged by James Curnow
Silver Bells – Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (arr. James Swearingen)
Carol of the Bells – arranged by Chip Davis and Robert Longfield
Brazilian Sleigh Ride – Percy Faith (arr. Lloyd Conley)
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Richard Pola and George Wyle (arr. Chris Sharp)
White Christmas – Irving Berlin
Festive Sounds of Hanukah – arranged by Bill Holcombe
We Three Kings – John H. Hopkins, Jr. (arr. John M. Pasternak)
Candlelight Carol – John Rutter (arr. Jay Dawson)
Go Tell it on the Mountain – arranged by Jay Dawson
Greensleeves – arranged by Alfred Reed
A Christmas Portrait – arranged by Jerry Nowak
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
Hallelujah Chorus – George Frederic Handel (arr. Jack Bullock)
No date or location has been set for the 2026 Maine Pops Concert Band holiday benefit concert. As soon as a date, venue, and beneficiary are confirmed, details will be announced.
The Maine POPS Concert Band is a 501(c)3 education charity.