This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Danvers Town Wide Reunion in the Works for Summer 2012

A town-wide reunion is in the works, and Danvers natives share their memories online

As plans are made for the very first Danvers Town Wide Reunion to be held during Family Festival Week 2012, we will stay on top of details, let you know how to contact people on the committee and keep you informed about volunteer opportunities.

In addition, we'll be sharing short summaries about the buzz around Danvers-past from the You Know You Grew Up in Danvers Facebook group.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions, and will strive to make this weekly column something you won't want to miss. After all, you don't want to be tardy to the big party!

Find out what's happening in Danverswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This summer Julie Lotitio formed the Facebrook group, “You Know You Grew Up in Danvers When…” and it quickly became a popular gathering site for Danvers people to connect and share their memories of living here, and for catching up with old friends.

With a membership of almost 1600, there are many memories shared. Among the most popular recently have been memories of sounds from childhood in Danvers.

Find out what's happening in Danverswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here are some examples:

  • The fire station whistles blowing at 6:45 am and 9:00 pm. The 6:45 was our wake-up alarm and the 9:00 pm was the curfew whistle for those under age.
  • The sound of the train rumbling down the tracks, tooting its horn and clanging its bells.
  • Another favorite memory is the sound of snowplows going by late at night. That sound would often be a harbinger of no school in the morning.
  • Some people remember standing outside their friends’ houses and calling their names, so they would come to play.  How those voices still echo in our minds is amazing.
  • The fire station also would blow the horn (we called it a whistle but it was a horn) when there was a fire. You counted the blasts and ran to check on a code chart that every home had. The count would tell you what part of town and then what street.

Since many of this week’s memories do include the Fire Department, we are showing a picture of the old headquarters. If you happened to be too close to the station when that whistle blew, you likely jumped a mile or your heart skipped a beat. While it is a little sad that the whistle no longer blows, and the trains no longer run, it is nice that the people who grew up here in the past have the memories to share with others.

So, with all of the enthusiasm for remembering growing up in Danvers, the idea was generated to plan to hold a town wide reunion in 2012, to coincide with Danvers Family Festival.

If you aren’t a Facebook user, don’t worry about being left out. Here at Danvers Patch we will keep you posted on the reunion plans. There will likely be two events, but details are not firmly in place yet. Group members have been in touch with the Family Festival Committee to get things started.

We’re excited. Are you? Whoever said “You can’t go home again,” was wrong, as this reunion will prove to us next summer!

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?