Beavertail Lighthouse the newest new charity license plate to go into production
JAMESTOWN − In four months, the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association charity license plate collected enough preorders, 600, to start being distributed.
The first batch of license plates will be handed out on Saturday morning, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association member Ursula Parenteau ran the marketing campaign, helped find a sponsor for the enabling legislation, found an artist to design the plate and carried it from an idea two years ago to a reality.
Preorders opened in February and by the end of May, they had enough to make the license plate official, she said.
"The association is very excited to get it out there," she said. "Everybody loves coming to Beavertail, to enjoy the lighthouse and museum."
With the exception of the frenzy over the great white shark plate put out by the Atlantic Shark Institute, the Beavertail plate was the quickest to reach the number of required orders, Parenteau said.
"I'm thrilled," she said. "It was just an idea that came to my head one day and with a lot of support of our board members, we decided to go ahead with it. I'm very happy it's out there."
The group chose artist Don Mong to do the watercolor that forms the basis of the plate.
"We liked his timeless style," she said.
The lighthouse will soon be turned over from the feds to the state
The lighthouse, the third oldest in North America, is in the process of being turned from federal property to part of the Beavertail State Park, run by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
What's next? The plan for Beavertail Lighthouse when Rhode Island takes ownership from the feds
The lighthouse association will continue to maintain the property and museum, while the state is the property owner.
The lighthouse's history dates back to a request from 1712. The first iteration was built by 1749, the third, which is still standing, was built in 1856.
How much money do charity plates bring in?
All new plates bring in $20 donations to the charity and when they are renewed, it's another $10 donation. Those initial 600 plates mean a $12,000 donation to the organization. The total cost is $42.50.
"It'll be an ongoing thing to support the museum itself, preserve the historic buildings, help the fund to keep the lighthouse open," Parenteau said.
What other Rhode Island charity license plates are out there?
Released around the same time, the Atlantic Shark Institute plate, featuring a great white shark, quickly surpassed the 600 preorders needed, surpassing 5,000 by the end of May, followed by the opening for orders of a motorcycle version of the plate.
Frenzy: Orders for charity shark plate surpass 5,000
"We've had a run this summer," Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Paul Grimaldi said. "When people saw the noise around the shark plate, I think they said, 'Let's try for it.'"
The Gaspee Days license plate, featuring a burning ship, neared the 600-preorder goal by the end of May. By the middle of July, the Providence College Friars license plate went into production.
The Boston Bruins Foundation license plate took nine years to get the required number of preorders, Grimaldi said.
Bristol Fourth of July
Conservation Through Education supporting the Audubon Society of Rhode Island or Save The Bay
Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation
New England Patriots
Plum Beach Lighthouse
Rhode Island Community Food Bank (featuring Mr. Potato Head)
Red Sox Foundation
Rocky Point Foundation
Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island
What charity plates haven't hit the 600 preorders needed?
The other plates that have not hit the 600 preorder threshold include those for The Autism Project, the Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Friends of the Pomham Rocks Lighthouse, the RI Day of Portugal group and the Rose Island Lighthouse and Fort Hamilton Trust.
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Reach Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Beavertail Lighthouse charity license plate starts distribution
