SEBAGO LAKE – Last Saturday, environmental activists from Maine and surrounding New England states took to local streets and water bodies, to voice concerns over what they describe as the looming flow reversal of the Portland-Montreal pipeline.

The environmental group 350 Maine spearheaded the event in an effort to boost awareness about the pipeline’s proximity to Sebago Lake and trepidations over pumping diluted bitumen, also known as tar sands by opponents or oil sands by proponents, through the 60-plus-year-old pipe.

The day began at 8 a.m. with demonstrators holding picket signs and passing out informational cards at the intersection of routes 302 and 85 near Panther Run in Raymond. Despite the hot temperatures, a few activists donned white hazmat suits and some staged a mock oil spill cleanup.

“It starts with caring about Planet Earth and goes all the way to caring about my little hometown of South Portland, Maine, and everything in-between,” said Paul Cunningham, who participated in Saturday’s event. “But most specifically keeping tar sands oil from being sent through the pipeline, which goes right along Sebago Lake.”

As vehicles passed through the intersection Saturday, demonstrators were met with a mix of encouraging car honks and discouraging expletives.

Event organizers tied gold-colored balloons around the yellow crude oil pipeline markers located feet away from Panther Run, which leads into Sebago Lake, so people driving by could see the pipeline’s relation to the water.

“Not enough people are aware of the dangers and the hazards, and the actual horror of tar sands mining and transport,” said Chesterville resident and demonstrator Cindy Stancioff. “It is everyone’s state and water and the future of the planet is everybody’s business.”

After standing by the intersection for three-plus hours in the hot sun, demonstrators packed up and headed to Sebago Lake State Park for Round 2 of the day, a flotilla.

Participants hopped in inner tubes and kayaks, held up signs, cheered and made their presence known. The actual flotilla demonstration was relatively brief, but family-friendly activities occurred throughout the morning and afternoon hours.

“Sebago Lake is a really precious resource to everyone here in Maine,” said Willow Femmechild, a media organizer for the event. “It is the source of drinking water…It is such pure water that they don’t even need a filtration system for it, which is very unusual. So we have a gem of a lake. It is a huge recreational focus so really our economy in this area especially in the summer is really built all around water activities…it’s not just our drinking water, but it’s our livelihood,” she said. “This is our future here.”

Demonstrators gathered at Sebago Lake State Park to celebrate the lake and peacefully protest the possible flow reversal of the Portland-Montreal pipeline, which runs by Sebago Lake.Donna Little of Falmouth, an environmentalist of 40 years, said rather than be in despair over issues like tar sands, she chooses to get active. “It seems business needs to get connected with science,” Little said. “Maybe it will never happen.” Little was one of several lining the streets Saturday with anti-tar sands signs.