WILTON – A second shipment of the cookbook, “Favorites of Wilson Lake,” will be available Friday for members of Friends of Wilson Lake to sell at the Blueberry Festival, said organizer Sandy Muller.

Years of work pay off

“It’s been a wonderful undertaking and a fantastic adventure …a project that has taken several years to put together,” she said of the new 300-recipe book.

The group started selling the first order of 300 books Memorial Day weekend and are down to less than 30 copies, she said Tuesday.

The second shipment will be sold in front of KeyBank on Friday and Saturday, and at the boat landing where free boat rides are offered Friday.

Local art featured

“We’ve gotten a lot of people involved in the project, but perhaps the greatest feature is the divider pages are etchings done by an artist who lived on the lake for many years,” Muller said. “Netta Staffon was known for the etchings she’d send to those around the lake.”

Staffon was in her 80s when she died a few years ago.

Fifteen years ago Friends of Wilson Lake member Nancy Round started collecting recipes. Then members Muller and Katharine Shoaps joined her, bringing the number to more than 300 recipes. Some of the recipes are from members and friends who have since died but their families have given the group permission to use them, she said.

The book sells for $10 and includes the history of the nonprofit group that started in 1990 to preserve and protect the aesthetic qualities, recreational value and purity of water in Wilson lake. The Friends have grown from lake-front property owners to include many in Wilton who enjoy the use of the lake as well as corporate members, said President Wynn Muller, husband of Sandy.

All proceeds benefit the group’s projects including a student milfoil monitoring program, a loon program for Cushing School third graders and the David Prince Memorial Scholarship.

The books have been available at the town office, library and the Wilson Lake Inn. They may be obtained this summer by calling Muller at 645-3716. When lake owners leave for the summer an ordering process will be set up so people can order the book to be mailed out for the holidays, she said.