WILTON — Part of Lake Road will be closed from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday for the Scarecrow Festival’s Pumpkin Car Derby.

The Wilton Select Board approved the move Tuesday night.

The section of Lake Road between Main Street and North Gilbert Street will be closed to traffic. Town officials said that traffic will be detoured onto U.S. Route 2 via Main Street and then back onto Lake Road via North Gilbert Street during the closure.

Festival organizers searched for several suitable stretches of pavement downtown to host the race before settling on the Lake Road stretch just past the bridge, officials said Tuesday. The race begins at 2 p.m.

The track that the pumpkin cars — cars made out of pumpkins that must conform to certain specifications — will use requires smooth pavement that’s 7 feet wide and 8 feet long. The derby participants will race their pumpkins down the track three at a time, most likely extending past the end of the track onto the road before coming to a stop, festival organizer Betty Shibles said. Details of what’s required for the derby are available at the Wilton Hardware Store.

The derby is the most recent addition to Wilton’s Scarecrow Festival, which begins at 9:45 a.m. Saturday and will include face-painting, pumpkin carving, a pie-eating contest, hay rides and a polar plunge at the town boat landing,

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate


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