WILTON — Selectperson Tom Saviello presented firmer plans and a budget to the Wilton Select Board for the Wilton Blueberry Festival during their Thursday, June 24, meeting. The festival will take place Friday, August 6, and Saturday, August 7.
Saviello requested $13,000 more from the town, in addition to the $3,000 that was allocated in the recently approved town budget.
“I’m very afraid that if we give (the blueberry festival) up for two years somebody else is going to take the date and we’re not going to have it,” Saviello said. “But (the delayed planning) put us behind the eight ball for fundraising…for getting programs in here.”
The Select Board unanimously approved the funding to come from the Undesignated Balance Fund, which Selectperson Keith Swett said is meant for “unexpected expenses” that benefit the town such as the festival.
“It’s not about a person. It’s about this community,” Saviello said.
The events will be concentrated in downtown Wilton and Kineowatha park.
The total of $16,000 will be used for hiring bands, axe throwing, activities at Kineowatha Park such as a bounce house, the brochure and a parade. This will also fund a fireworks show — smaller than usual years — which Saviello said he’s had a lot of requests for.
Saviello and Ambition Brewing owner Jeff Chaisson are working on fundraising for the festival from advertising and contributions from private citizens. Saviello said that any leftover money is “all coming back to the town.”
In addition, there will also be sidewalk vendors, a pie-eating contest run by Calzolaio Pasta Co., a blueberry pancake breakfast at the Lions Club and a blueberry-dessert contest run by Tyngtown, among other events.
Saviello hinted during the meeting at the fact that the name is still up in the air.
“It is Wilton Blueberry Festival until I am told by an attorney that I cannot use that name,” Saviello said. However, a page is currently up on Facebook with a more extensive list of events called Blueberry Fest at https://www.facebook.com/blueberryfestwilton.
In other business, the board heard from Dirigo engineer Jim Lord on plans to replace the piping for the town’s water transmission line. The pipe, which is currently made out of asbestos-cement at parts, is aging and needs to be replaced, Lord clarified in a phone interview.
The project will seek to address environmental concerns by keeping vernal pools and other protected habitats in tact.
The town is also considering diverting the piping from North Pond Road through to Weld Road to connect back to the system. Lord said that diverting the system makes it easier to maintain, puts it in the road as opposed to cross-country terrain. If the system were to be replaced where it is, it would require the town to dig up lawns on private property.
As it stands, the project would cost around $7.3 million, including the diverted system. It would be approximately $200,000 less to replace the pipes where they are now. Lord plans for the town to apply for grants to fund the project. Nothing has been finalized.
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