MONMOUTH — Camrin Poland watched while his son, Gabe, stood on a platform at the start line of the biggest race of the day.

It was the 9-year-old’s second try at the pine car derby Saturday at the first Woodworkers Tool Festival in Monmouth. On the first try, his purple wooden car, which he named Speed Racer, finished second, so he went back to the drawing board and glued more circular weights to the top of the car.

“If I came in second, if I add more weight, it’ll go even faster,” he said in-between races. “That’s why I called it the Speed Racer.”

Gabe Poland, 9, of Livermore hammers a nail that holds the wheels on his wooden race car, which he calls Speed Racer, in the Wood Works On Wheels trailer Saturday during Woodworkers Tool Festival in Monmouth. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Camrin Poland strategized with his son about which of the four lanes to pick and how long to wait for the glue to dry before racing again.

The two were faced with the cars made by the seasoned racers of Woodworks on Wheels, a four-wheeled Maryland-based woodworking education company that brought its trade to Maine for the first time this weekend. Its owner, Mark Freibaum, invited Gabe Poland back into the shop after his first race to have another try.

Freibaum has never competitively raced pine cars, but he thought it was a good way to get children interested in woodworking when he built the company four years ago. He first learned woodworking skills in school, and he said he wants to be able to bring that education to children however he can now that the trade has been phased out from most schools.

He said he appreciates the craftsmanship it takes to improve the wooden cars — and he said his competitive streak helps keep him engaged, too.

“The thrill of these kids racing their cars, there’s nothing like it,” Freibaum said.

And just like that, four colorful cars raced back down the 20-foot ramp. Speed Racer was close, but came in second place again.

The pine car derby was one of several popular games and events at the Woodworkers Tool Festival, put on by the Maine Cabin Masters at the Kennebec Cabin Co. campus in Monmouth.

The all-day event included two rounds of live music and 15 vendors. The Maine Wood Carvers Association held several demonstrations and classes, including a bird house tutorial, sign painting and hand carving. Participation in the classes cost visitors $5-$10, and all proceeds are to be distributed to area nonprofits, according to the event’s website.

Sculpture artist Greg Waters of Riverside Sculpture & Design uses a chainsaw at the start of making a cardinal from a log Saturday during Woodworkers Tool Festival in Monmouth. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Among the event’s popular vendors was Maranacook Community High School, which had a bake sale booth near the entrance to the event to benefit the class of 2025. Other vendors sold handmade tools and wooden creations, from saws to benches to uniquely shaped charcuterie boards.

Greg Waters — stationed between the Chuck Around, Find Out axe-throwing booth and a vendor selling windows for $5 — carved a pumpkin into a tree stump with his chainsaw. Waters is the lead sculptor at Riverside Sculpture & Design, a chainsaw sculpture business based in Lisbon Falls.

Within just a few minutes, Waters had wood chips covering both of his arms and an angry-faced wooden pumpkin.

Back at the pine car station, Gabe Poland was determined to make a better car after his second consecutive second-place finish. Another child’s car, affectionately named Angry Sausage, had won two races in the meantime, so he knew it was possible.

“I’m going to make it more aerodynamic,” Gabe Poland said, adding a few extra syllables to the pronunciation, but stepping back into the woodworking shop more resolute than ever.