Barbara Lento can still recall that day in 1943 when locals came together for a photo at the Four Corners intersection.
She was just 5 years old when the village was celebrating its 50th anniversary in the streets.
“I remember getting dressed and pulling up here and they made it special,” she said Sunday during a special recreation of that event that drew hundreds to Main Street and Ocean Avenue to pose.
“That’s my whole family,” Lento told GreaterPatchogue, clutching a cropped picture of her and her loved ones from that day.
“They’re all gone now; I’m the only one left.”
Lento, whose maiden name is Losee, grew up on Terry Street in a house that’s since been razed. Now living in East Patchogue, she said much has changed in the village over 75 years.
“Now you can’t get a parking spot,” she said with a smile.
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Lento was among a handful of people who participated in that 1943 gathering to be photographed again Sunday by Patchogue resident Benny Migliorino of Benny Migs Photo.
Patchogue was first incorporated in 1893, so this latest photo will forever mark 125 years of village life.
The oldest person in attendance was Matilda “Tillie” Farrell, 106, whose maiden name was Lotito. She was born on Aug. 10, 1911, in Patchogue at 68 Jane Avenue, a house her father built in 1908.
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And the youngest Sunday was Jack Nelson , just two weeks old, who was there with his parents, Gina and Matt Nelson of East Patchogue.
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To capture the 360-degree image, Migliorino stood on a platform in the middle of the intersection and used a special tripod bracket to take six shots that he later stitched together seamlessly.
(Check back at GreaterPatchogue to see the finished product.)
He approached the village about four years ago saying he wanted to recreate the locally iconic 1943 photograph, which had already been recreated in 1993 to mark Patchogue’s centennial.
“But the village and the chamber wanted to wait for a special event, not just do it out of the blue,” Migliorino said. “Then they contacted me about three months ago. I started doing my research on how to do a 360-degree panoramic properly.”
He thought it would be especially cool to capture the recent physical changes that have happened in Patchogue since he moved here 10 years ago.
“And I wanted to be a part of history,” he said. “Patchogue history.”
Featured: Benny Migliorino communicates with the crowd Sunday around 1 p.m. at the Four Corners intersection for Patchogue’s 125th anniversary photo. (Credit: Michael White)
