CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Cheshire Lions Club donated the new "Welcome to Cheshire" sign placed on the northern entrance of the town's center.

 

Although the new sign has been in the making for some time now, the town finally installed it in late November before the holiday season.

 

"It was a long time in the making but now that is finally up it looks beautiful," said Lions Club member Rick Gurney said.

 

Gurney said the Lions Club has gathered donations and held fundraisers for years to raise funds to better the town. He said the club even has funds from a book it published 25 years ago marking the 200th anniversary of Cheshire.

 

"We sold the book and we said all proceeds from that go towards the town," he said. "We have done benches and flags before and that account started going up, so we thought about something nice we could do for the town. That is where this came from."

 

Gurney said the sign has an actual photo of the town on it that the Lions Club handpicked.

 

"We looked at a bunch of sign designs and photos and settled on one that shows the picturesque community we all imagine when we think of Cheshire," he said. 

 

Selectwoman Carol Francesconi said the town originally wanted to place the sign at the southern entrance of Cheshire near Whitney's Farm Stand, however, potential locations were all state-owned.

 

"The state would not allow it and the only place we could have put it was away from the road where you could not see it," she said. 

 

Selectman Robert Ciskowski said the posts for the sign had been up for some time but when the sign was finally in hand, they would not support it. The brick posts had to be shored up.

 

"It is really built very well. It is very sturdy," he said.