Barry Gives Legs to Recreation in Town

Longtime Danvers resident Ingrid Barry takes her role as an activist for recreational projects such as the rail-trail or even safer bicycling and walking in town very seriously. In fact, her passion for these causes often makes her a magnet for local media outlets.

Barry’s leadership abilities were also recently recognized via an award from the Essex National Heritage Commission. She was presented with the Essex Heritage Pioneers in Partnership Award this past fall for her advocacy of safer bicycling and pedestrian accommodations in Danvers and beyond.

Barry is both president and founder of the nonprofit Danvers Bi-Peds, which is the trail blazing proponent of the Danvers Rail-Trail, a 4.3-mile long project currently under construction in town. The trail is also another link among eight communities in the 28-mile Border to Boston route.

Barry brought the Iron Horse Preservation Society, based out of Nevada, together with town officials to get the ball rolling on the Danvers project, which had only been talk for years. Iron Horse worked on removing the rails and wooden rail ties from the trail with no money needed from the town coffers.

“Now that the trail effort has been taken on by the town, I will continue to work with the Bi-Peds to offer any assistance we can with volunteers for various aspects of the trail, such as maintenance, as they come up in the future and also help with fundraising for the trail," Barry said. "I also hope to some day see the Bi-Peds help with bringing the Safe Routes to School program to Danvers."

Barry grew up chiefly in the Midwest and lived in various parts of the country before coming to Danvers in 1974 with her husband Tom and their five children: Sean, Kira, Heidi, Derek and Amy. But once they were here, they decided to put down roots and stay for good.

She said her father enjoyed the experience of living in different locations and the lifestyle worked well for them at the time, but Danvers took hold of her family and they have been happy to live here for the past 37 years. Their two youngest children Derek and Amy were adopted and Barry says this was the first interracial adoption completed by North Shore Catholic Charities.

Barry describes her profession as “caring for my children 24 hours a day,” but now they are grown and have their own homes, giving her more time to devote to her own interests. In addition to Danvers Bi-Peds, the Riverside Squares – a local square dancing group she has been involved in for 18 years – are also “dear to her heart.”

This past week, the dancers held a free introductory session to the official state folk dance – modern western square dancing, who knew?