The popular Pumpkin Loop trail in the Carolina North Forest will be open for the annual Pumpkin Run on Saturday, Oct. 27, UNC officials announced Tuesday.

After Saturday’s race, the loop will be closed again for installation of a landfill gas pipeline, but will reopen in December and will remain open until construction begins on the Carolina North greenway, currently scheduled for late winter 2013.

The annual Pumpkin Run, a unique 4K run on wide trails easily accessible to individuals and families, will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday at Carolina North Forest. The race costs $25, and the fee includes a race shirt and the post-race party.

Parking for Saturday’s Pumpkin Run will open at 3:45 p.m. at the Chapel Hill / Carrboro YMCA and shuttles will start taking participants to the race site at 4 p.m. Shuttles will return participants to the YMCA after the race. The post event party and awards will begin roughly around 5:45 p.m., or as soon as participants are back at the YMCA.

The Pumpkin Loop has been closed since June to allow construction crews to install a utility ductbank and landfill gas pipeline through the property owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For the Pumpkin Run weekend, construction fences blocking access to the trail will be removed temporarily and the crossings resurfaced with Chapel Hill gravel.

In a related project, Municipal Drive will be blocked and the trailhead at the Locust Lot parking area at Carolina North Forest will be closed for three days sometime in the next four weeks for installation of the landfill gas pipeline crossing the unpaved portion of Municipal Drive. No vehicles, bicyclists or pedestrians will be allowed access to the unpaved portion of Municipal Drive for those three days.

The specific dates for the construction have not been decided, but will be posted before the closures on the Carolina North Forest Facebook page ( facebook.com/pages/Carolina-North-Forest) and the Carolina North website ( carolinanorth.unc.edu) as well as on site.