WILTON — Town Manager Rhonda Irish marked roads at noon Thursday for Friday’s annual road races.

Members of Wilton Congregational Church hung clothing around the sanctuary and talked about the chicken barbecue.

Down the street at the Luthi Building, Wiltona members gathered items together for Saturday’s sale.

At St. Luke’s Episcopal, the women’s group planned to meet Thursday evening and pack lunches for the 550 lobster roll meals they hope to sell Friday.

It takes a village to prepare for the annual Blueberry Festival.

Armed with yellow spray paint, Irish colored the five- and 10-mile markers along the Lake Road. For a second year, she took on the challenge of planning the races, she said while tackling the last-minute details of the 10K run/walk and kids one-miler.

The town road crew has swept the streets and painted crosswalks in preparation, she said.

The downtown flower boxes are bountiful and the scenic lake offers an enchanting setting for the thousands who will come to the festival Friday and Saturday.

The festival’s roots go back to the Women’s Fellowship of the Wilton Congregational Church when they began an all-day summer fundraiser, a Blueberry Bazaar, said Dawn Girardin, who co-chairs the church’s chicken barbecue Friday with Mary Ryan.

Blueberry pies and cakes and other items were sold at the Main Street church throughout the day before half chickens were placed on the grill for an evening barbecue.

“The barbecue made the whole town smell wonderful and it was well-attended,” she said as she helped other members Thursday prepare clothes and household items for this weekend’s rummage sale.

The men of the church, dressed in Hawaiian shirts and led by state Sen. Tom Saviello, will gather across the street Friday to barbecue 340 chickens for the 5 p.m. barbecue.  Some people eat in the church or buy takeout meals that include cole slaw, roll and blueberry cake, she said.

“If you want chicken, come early,” she said.

Although a festival committee led by Shannon Smith has since taken on the bazaar and made it into a townwide, two-day festival, it’s still a large fundraiser for the church, she said.

Along with the rummage sale, there’s a bake sale. Blueberries, blueberry cake, flowers, hot dogs and blueberry pie with ice cream available.

For the first time, the Wiltona Club, a social-service organization founded in 1928, is planning a craft and bake sale on Saturday at the Luthi Building on Main Street.

Members Carlene Boyce and Nancy Merrow were there Thursday morning preparing items and filling a blueberry themed picnic basket that they’ll raffle off.

After women gained the right to vote in 1919, the 1920s were the decade for women, Merrow said of the group’s start.  After 84 years, there are still about 20 active members.

It’s part social, meeting monthly in member homes, and part service as the group makes donations to local charities and organizations, she said.

Boyce suggested the group expand their fundraising, usually done within the group, and with Merrow’s Luthi Building and parking area in the middle of downtown, it was the perfect setting, they said.

Up the hill on High Street, members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church planned to pack an average of 550 lunches Thursday night then come in early Friday morning to make lobster rolls, Gwen Doak, administrative assistant, said.

The fresh lobster roll sale is an annual two weekend fundraiser for the church. About 550 were made last week for Friday’s Summer Fest in Farmington.

The United Methodist Church will also open its doors for a quilt and rug show, and outdoor luncheon Saturday. It offers a yard sale and refreshments Friday.

abryant@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link