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New sign welcomes visitors to the sunny hamlet of Cutchogue

TIM KELLY PHOTO | A new sign welcoming visitors to Cutchogue, deemed the sunniest place in the state.

Cutchogue has long claimed to be the sunniest spot in New York State, but residents have extra reason to believe in their clear skies this month.

In late December, the North Fork Chamber of Commerce placed a new welcome sign, emblazoned with an image of the sun, at the entrance to the hamlet. The sign, designed by chamber vice president Eugene Gluck’s firm, Gluck Multimedia, echoes a similar sign on the North Road advertising Cutchogue as the sunniest place in the state.

The sign, and another planned for the eastern end of the hamlet of Southold, were made possible by a $2,500 grant through Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine’s office.

“It was a rush thing. We got notice of this grant at the end of October. Everything had to be done and in place by the end of the year,” said chamber president Joe Corso.

Mr. Corso said the sign for Southold is complete, but the chamber didn’t have time to dig the post holes before the ground froze.

The Cutchogue sign hangs on posts that previously held a fading sign that sat at Cutchogue’s western edge for about 15 years.

“You couldn’t read it,” Mr. Corso said. “It had outlived its usefulness.”

He said the Southold sign will be similar to one that disappeared from Route 25 about 10 years ago, which bore an image of the Horton Point Lighthouse. It will be put in place in early spring.

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