The third annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest celebration was marred by tragedy Saturday afternoon when an accident claimed the life of a parade participant.

Maine St. Andrew’s Pipes & Drums will be the featured musical unit in the Giant Pumpkin Parade through Newcastle and Damariscotta on Sat., Oct. 8 at 2 p.m.

Chad Andrews, a Boothbay Harbor native and long-time patrol officer in Boothbay Harbor and Damariscotta, is, after six months as acting chief, Damariscotta’s chief of police.

The Waldoboro Police report the following activities from the previous week:

The Lincoln County Court remanded custody of a Whitefield man’s horse to the town’s animal control officer on Oct. 24. The horse’s owner is in jail awaiting trial for criminal threatening.

Dresden debated two proposed changes to the town government’s structure at a public hearing Oct. 17.

The Wiscasset Fire Department’s Oct. 12 open house featured safety demonstrations and provided the public with a chance to personally inspect the collection of fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars parked outside Wiscasset’s Municipal Building for the occasion.

A week of Indian summer, along with new and improved events contributed to a successful fifth year for the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to identify a subject who cashed a check for $2700 at the First Bank in Damariscotta Sept. 22.

Months of investigation by a Maine police taskforce resulted in two arrests on Sept. 28 in Plaistow, N.H., for alleged involvement in an interstate burglary spree beginning in Waldoboro in May.

Lincoln County TRIAD will be holding their 11th annual Elder Appreciation Day on Sat., Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. 2 p.m. at the Boothbay Region Elementary School on Rt. 27, Boothbay Harbor. Admission is free.

Meeting Oct. 24, the Edgecomb Board of Selectmen agreed to settle a nearly year old lawsuit filed against the town regarding the operation of a gravel pit on Mount Hunger Road.

Mexicali Blues owner Pete Erskine plans to replace the retail chain’s Newcastle home with a “better performing, better looking, better overall store more reflective of who Mexicali Blues is.”

Maine voters can expect to see marriage on the November 2012 state ballot.