DIXFIELD – Five incoming juniors at Dirigo High School painted the town yellow Tuesday with a little help from the Public Works Department and a Graco Line Laser machine.

Tia Dakin, 15, and Jazmine Brooks, Rachel Child, Megan White, and Kristen Harvey, all 16-year-olds of Dixfield, are members of the River Valley Interact Club, a group of area teens sponsored by the Rumford Rotary that do community service projects both locally and internationally.

The girls volunteered to repaint moose tracks from the town’s moose mascot “Bullrock,” a chainsaw-carved, hand-painted life-sized statue on the village green beside Main Street.

A few years ago, Dixfield resident Neri Cormier and his daughter hand-painted the tracks using a stencil Cormier had made. Since then, the bright yellow paint had faded and needed to be spruced up for this weekend’s Outdoor Market.

The tracks, which lead from the moose to various businesses and offices along both sides of Main Street, were an economic tool designed to lead tourists into the village.

The five girls and their adviser, Katherine Harvey, were about to repaint the tracks by hand until a public works crew got wind of the Dixfield Economic Development Council project.

“When the young ladies explained how they were about to put down the new moose tracks, we explained to them that using our laser machine might be much faster and more economical for them,” Public Works Director Tim Hanson said by e-mail Tuesday.

“They seemed to warm to the idea. Once they got the gist of it today, they marched right up the street. They are great kids doing a wonderful job. More power to them and their mentor Katherine Harvey,” he added.

The girls finished the south side of Main Street, also known as Route 2, before they ran low on paint, Katherine Harvey said. They hope to finish repainting the tracks on the opposite side of the road on Thursday.

“We learned how to do it by hand, but the public works saw us and taught us how to use a paint sprayer. It helped us out so much,” Harvey said.

“The economic council is very pleased to have the young people involved in keeping up our tradition of having moose tracks in town,” council leader Norine Clarke said Tuesday. “The council is very grateful for their efforts and volunteer hours.”

Harvey said the girls all take pride in doing community work. The club, which was formed in 2000, currently consists of 15 students, but they hope to recruit more this month. They also want to get students from Rumford’s Mountain Valley High School involved.

“This group does a lot, especially to try and raise money, and then we give it away for things like Thanksgiving care baskets and gas cards for cancer or dialysis patients who have to travel back and forth from here to Lewiston-Auburn.”