FARMINGTON – There will be a trail-naming event for the Jay, Wilton and Farmington multi-use recreational trail owned by the Maine Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 17.

The Trail Coalition will host the event. The coalition consists of state conservation staff and volunteer representatives from the three communities, the local ATV and snowmobile clubs, local users and the Healthy Maine Partnerships.

The event will be held at the newly constructed trail parking lot and trail head in West Farmington. The entrance to the parking lot is located across from the post office on Oakes Street. There is a small temporary trail sign at the entrance, follow the parking signs to the parking lot.

A naming contest involving fifth-and sixth-grade children from the Jay and SAD 9 schoolswas created to name the trail. The children submitted their ideas for a new name to coalition members, who then agreed upon the most appropriate of the submitted entries.

The child who submitted the chosen name will receive the grand prize at the naming event. The coalition members also randomly chose two other names from the entries from each school and these children will receive a new bicycle.

There will also be a drawing at the event for any attending students in grades kindergarten to 12 who wish to participate for donated prizes.

The event will be an opportunity for those who attend to see the newly constructed parking lot and trail improvements recently done by Maine DOC with financial assistance from the Recreational Trails Program and the ATV and snowmobile trail funds.

In addition to naming the trail, the event will kick off the campaign to raise funds for a new trail bridge across the Sandy River. The original railroad bridge was removed years ago due to structural problems, and since that time, there has been no direct access by way of the trail into downtown Farmington.

The proposal is to construct a new trail bridge across the river in the same location. The University of Maine at Farmington, which owns the east side of the bridge abutment, has recently granted an easement to the Maine DOC for the bridge and a trail that will continue into downtown Farmington.

Maine DOT has earmarked $48,000 toward the engineering for the new bridge, and the volunteer Jay to Farmington Trail Coalition has been able to acquire from local donors the $12,000 matching funds to move forward with the engineering this summer.

The new bridge is estimated to cost approximately $600,000, so there will be a significant additional match that will have to be acquired in the near future to move forward with the bridge construction.

The public is invited to the event. For more information, contact Farmington Town Manager Richard P. Davis at 778-6538 or [email protected].