Roadside tradition takes on added meaning
DARIEN — In the mid-2000s, Joe Haberny, the caretaker for a house on Middlesex Road, had just taken a new washing machine out of the box.
He was trying to break up the cardboard box outside, and got frustrated with the process, especially because it was a typical snowy winter day in New England.
“I finally just grabbed a piece of the cardboard, spray-painted the days left until spring on it, and hung it up on a tree by the road,” he said.
Nearly two decades later, the sign tradition has continued and evolved — and Haberny is still mystified by the almost immediate response he initially received.
“People started honking when they were driving by, and waving,” he said.
As the popularity of the sign grew, Haberny, a resident of South Salem, N.Y., created a more durable format of the sign.
Over time, he’s added flowers after someone left them nearby. But despite the improved sign, located near the former Ox Ridge Hunt Club property, Haberny hasn’t given up the cardboard numbers he changes every day.
When Haberny initially put up the sign, he’d take it down on the weekends when the homeowner, Lewis Cullman, was back from New York City.
“I thought he might be mad at me for putting it up,” he said, laughing.
Then one day, Cullman saw the sign featured in the paper.
“He brought it in to me and said, ‘What is this?’” Haberny said.
“I told him what it was, and he asked me why I took it down. I told him I thought he might be mad I had it up,” Haberny said.
Haberny said Cullman told him to put it back up, but to “use better numbers than those cardboard ones.” However, Haberny has stuck to the sign’s roots and the numbers remain cardboard.
The Middlesex Road home has been in the same family for decades, and Haberny has been working at the property for over 30 years. Cullman died in 2019 at the age of 100. Haberny said the Middlesex home “was his pride and joy.”
Haberny doesn’t have a strict schedule about when he first puts the sign out — the weather usually dictates it.
“Usually if we have a few really rough winter days, I put it out,” he said.
This year, it wasn’t soon enough for some in the community. Social media chatter seemed anxious for the sign to tell the community spring is coming — for something to look forward to.
“My neighbor texted me and said people were wondering what was happening with the sign — people are asking for it,” he said.
“I added ‘Chin up’ this year — it’s been rough, but things have got to get better sooner than later,” Haberny said.
In addition to honking horns, Haberny said the sign has also gotten him some fan mail, with many sending letters about the impact the sign has had on them. He’s also had some cookie deliveries.
“There are numerous routes that I can choose as I drive from Weston to Stamford each morning and I find that my preferred route is through Darien, so I can pass by your home to be reminded of the inevitable joy of the on come of spring,” one person wrote in a letter.
Another letter came from a Darien school bus driver.
“Knowing spring is only so many days away gives everybody hope. Little things like that make us all feel better. Thank you so much. Keep it up. We do notice,” she wrote.
Another came from a mom who drives her kids to school, saying watching the sign was a family tradition.
“Every year, we look forward to your tree posting and after the winter we’ve had, please know we all yelled for joy when we saw 50 days to go. Even my mom in NJ follows along, she loves to see your sign when she visits us,” she wrote.
Despite the sign’s fame, Haberny has kept a low profile and changes the days in the first light of morning so he’s not spotted. Most of the letters he receives are directed to the “spring sign house owner.”
Haberny has another reason to look forward to spring.
He and his wife Jeanine own Three Feathers Farm in South Salem. The farm is family owned and operated and includes a self-serve farm stand. It offers beef, chicken and produce during the summer.
“We have the best tasting corn,” Haberny said.
Jeanine Haberny also shared her husband’s surprise at how popular the sign has become each year, especially this one.
“This has been Joe’s simple way to uplift people for years now,” she said.
“Who knew that this sign would become so symbolic?” she said.
Haberny agreed.
“It’s crazy how something so small and silly could end up being so important,” he said.