WILTON — Members of the Friends of Wilson Lake realize not everyone has the opportunity to see the lake from the vantage point of a boat ride around the “jewel of Wilton.”

During the annual Wilton Blueberry Festival, the group tries to offer that opportunity, member Sandy Muller said.

Seven boats, provided and driven by members, will give free rides around the lake from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, starting at the boat launch. 

Ride availability is subject to weather conditions. Life jackets will be provided and children must be accompanied by adults.

Last year, 300 rides were given, Muller said. The group hopes to give that many this year, too.

While the rides are free, donations are accepted. The funds collected this year will help restore the street loons at several spots around town. The decorated sculptures were created 10 years ago during Loon Maine-ia 2003 in celebration of Wilton’s 200th anniversary. During the project, coordinated by Barbara Hathaway, artists painted the large sculptures, with many auctioned off in support of the town’s Blueberry Festival.

Others were placed around town and, after 10 years, several are showing wear and need repair or painting, Muller said. Mike Monahan of Signworks is working on their restoration and some of the original artists have restored their work.

The group gave $300 from boat ride donations last year to restoration efforts and hopes to add a few hundred this year, she said.

FOWL will once again bring a Biodiversity Research Institute scientist to present information on loons, President Wynn Muller said.

This year, the time and location of the Loon Awareness Booth will change. The booth will be available near the boat launch on Friday during the hours of the boat rides. The booth provides information similar to that provided during a day seminar held each year for the third-grade class at Academy Hill School.

A few years ago, someone saw children chasing a loon chick onto the shore at Kineowatha Park. Neither the chick nor its carcass was found but FOWL members decided to change a negative into a positive, Wynn Muller said. 

They sponsor the loon awareness program to help children understand the sensitivity of the loon and chicks and to inspire them to protect the lake birds.

During Friday’s boat rides, FOWL’s student boat monitors will be there to answer questions about the volunteer boat inspection program.

For 11 years, half a dozen high school-age students have provided weekend monitoring. Last year, 800 boats were inspected, he said.

So far this year, 600 boats have been inspected. From those boats, six plant species have been found and sent for study to the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants in Auburn, Muller said.

The students also do a good job of teaching boat owners to pay attention to and inspect their own boats, he said.

FOWL has 300 members and is preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. Along with lake monitoring, the group sponsors the LakeSmart Program. Twenty-nine of the 80 homes around the lake have qualified as LakeSmart, he said. On a voluntary basis, properties are inspected and scored for road, building, yard and shoreline.

Wilson Lake and Hartford Lake are the first two in the state to gain LakeSmart status for 15 percent of their properties, he said.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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