DAMASCUS, Va. — Up to 60 people were injured when an elderly man plowed his car through a small-town parade of hiking enthusiasts yesterday, authorities said.

Nine people were hospitalized.

Damascus was celebrating its annual Trail Days festival, which includes hikers making their way from one end of the town’s main street to the other.

It appeared the old man behind the wheel “passed out or had some medical issue, and he ran through the crowd with his car,” said Ben Sanders, chief of the town’s volunteer fire department.