Village Gateway Center Opens at Top of Main Street in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

OLD SAYBROOK - After almost two years of construction work done by volunteers, the Village Gateway Information Center is finally open to the public.

Judy Sullivan, Executive Director of the Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has moved in and is hopes to receive new furniture soon.

Sullivan invites residents and visitors to visit the chamber's new 1,000-square-foot location at the junction of Main Street and Boston Post Road.

The center will allow the Chamber of Commerce to return to Main Street after being located in the back of the Community Policing Office in the Old Saybrook Shopping Center at 665 Boston Post Road.

Prior to that, they occupied a space for many years at 146 Main Street.

Their new location, at 1 Main Street, is expected to increase walk-in traffic for the chamber and allows the town to have a staffed information center where visitors can get literature and ask questions.

Sullivan said that an informational desk will probably be setup in the center of the room and will be staffed by volunteers.

"We will do our best to give out information and grow the Chamber and support our members," Sullivan said.

The Chamber has always acted as a place where people have turned to get information about a variety of subjects, Sullivan said, adding that those topics have ranged from businesses to housing and even questions regarding Justices of the Peace.

Similarly, the Greater Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce operates the tourist information center off Route 1 in Westerly which is open 56 hours a week during the busy summer tourist season.

In our region, the Connecticut Welcome Center in Westbrook, located off Interstate 95 North between exits 65 and 66, is staffed 70 hours a week during the summer season and is operated through the Connecticut Commission of Culture and Tourism.

While the hours of operation for Old Saybrook's center have not yet been set, Sullivan hopes enough volunteers will step up to the plate to welcome tourists to this beautiful shoreline community.

The architecture of the building is similar to the 1935 octagon informational booth which once sat on the town green.

It might be difficult to put paintings on the building's walls, Sullivan said, since much of the center is comprised of large windows.

The small amount of wall space was painted light and dark shades of blue reminiscent of the town's shoreline along the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound.

"It is very warm and welcoming," Sullivan said.

The center's parking lot, shared with Food Works, Starbucks, and AT&T, might prove to be a challenge but Sullivan explained that while the "lot is generally full there are times in the day when it is not."

There are still finishing touches to the building, however.

One will involve the installation of a bronze 6-foot tall boy with a fish and will be installed in the center garden in front of the building.

Additionally, a new gold leaf cupola will be installed on the building's roof near the clock.

While gold seven-inch letters on a stone wall already spell out "Old Saybrook," Sullivan said letters spelling "Chamber of Commerce" will soon be installed on both sides of the building.

Most interior work has already been completed and Sullivan expects the basement to serve as a storage area but could be used for other purposes in the future.

A date has not yet been set for a grand opening celebration for the new building.