For many, it’s been almost six years since they paid $42.50 to get a Rocky Point license plate. Now the plates are here and will be given out at a distribution event from 10 a.m. to noon at the Edgewood Yacht Club, 1 Shaw Ave., Cranston, on Saturday, Nov. 5.

Those picking up their plate should be prepared to show their registration and surrender their current plates.

The tale of the Rocky Point plates dates back to legislation introduced by Rep. Joseph Solomon whose district includes the park. Legislators approved the bill for a “charity plate” that provides $20 of each $42.50 registration fee to go to the non-profit organization named in the legislation. Requirements for Department of Motor Vehicles production of the plate at that time was for 900 pre-paid orders.

The Rocky Point Foundation launched an online contest for the design of a plate that was won by the collaborative submission of three Warwick Area Career and Technical Center graphics arts students. While there was an initial wave of orders, the foundation fell short of the 900 needed for the plate to go into production.  Through a series of legislative efforts spanning several years, the required pre-orders for production was reduced to 150 plus a payment enabling the Rocky Point Foundation and other non-profits faced with the challenge of a high pre-order threshold to fill orders.

Now that the plate is in production, those wishing to support the Rocky Point Foundation that spearheaded efforts to save the park for public use with passage of an open space bond issue on the 2010 election ballot and flaunt their love of the park, can order them directly from the DMV website. Funds raised by the foundation have been used to paint the park arch