JAY — Extension of the Whistle-Stop Trail will be celebrated at noon Saturday, Feb. 23, with a ribbon-cutting at Otis Falls Mill, the former Wausau Paper Mill.

The ceremony will be at the Mill Street crossing just inside the mill complex and just off Route 4.

The original Whistle-Stop Trail is 14 miles path from Jay to West Farmington along an abandoned Central Maine Railroad bed owned by the state.

The extension from French Falls Lane in Jay to the Otis Falls Mill adds about 1.3 miles. The extension over the Otis Ventures LLC property, where the Otis Falls Mill is, adds about another mile and ends at Bridge Street in Livermore Falls, Jonathan LaBonte, executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust, said Wednesday.

The Chisholm Trails Group, a program of Androscoggin Land Trust, based in Jay, along with support from snowmobile and all-terrain clubs, the state Department of Conservation and owners of Otis Ventures, have made the extension possible, he said.

People may now travel the nearly 17 miles of trails from West Farmington into Livermore Falls to connect with a snowmobile trail. The trail also connects with a nonmotorized walk-bike path on Foundry Road in Livermore Falls behind the Livermore Falls Municipal Building.

Planning for the trail extension began in 2009 with the help of the National Park Service.

Local people wanted this  in order to bring more people into the towns, LaBonte said.

After the ribbon-cutting, snowmobilers will be able to ride over to the Spruce Mountain Sled-In at the Livermore Falls Recreation Field to enjoy festivities from noon to 4 p.m.

dperry@sunjournal.com