Riverhead garden to get solar-powered light

It sounds like a Rube Goldberg environmentalist’s dream — take a pole and put a windmill on top, attach a solar panel, and plug both into an LED light that illuminates a community garden.

That’s exactly what Riverhead town officials say will happen by the time the Roots and Rivers community garden opens next spring on West Main Street.

The garden on the banks of the Peconic River, which started this year as a way to bring people to the downtown business district, is made up of 36 separate 4-by-10-foot plots and has running water. Recently, the town fixed up a long-closed public toilet next to the garden.

Gardeners leased the plots for $25 for the year, and all agreed to help with clean-up work or other garden chores.

Now, a Baltimore firm, SavWatt USA, has offered to put up one of its solar-powered LED lights at the garden as a demonstration project — at no cost to the town, according to Riverhead town board member George Gabrielsen. The plan received the board’s endorsement at its Thursday work session.

The 60-watt LED bulb is expected to provide the same light as a 600-watt regular bulb, he added.