BEVERLY — What’s your story? Beverly 400+ wants to know.
As part of the city’s quadricentennial celebration this year, community members are asked to submit stories of Beverly people, places and experiences that can be shared publicly and preserved for future generations.
Submissions can be written accounts featuring a few photos, or video or audio retellings submitted at https://beverly400.org/stories/. A submissions portal will go live on the website on Monday, Jan. 19.
Beverly 400+ plans to publish the stories on an app called “What’s Your Story, Bev?” and share some of them on social media throughout the year. Historic Beverly will keep them after the fact as part of their collection of more than 1 million artifacts from throughout the city’s history.
A class at Endicott College is also looking to interview some of those interested in sharing a story on camera as part of the project, and a lineup of a dozen people will share their stories on stage during a live event at Endicott’s Rose Theater on April 14.
“We’re really hoping that everybody takes that opportunity to tell us a story about your grandmother’s favorite recipe, or the time your son ended up in the back of a police car,” project organizer Gin Wallace said during a community conversation on Beverly 400+ at The Cabot last Wednesday night.
“Your story is going to last forever.”
The event was the official start of the Beverly 400+ lineup of events for 2026.
The yearlong celebration marks 400 years since the Salem Bay Colony was granted a charter in the territory of the Naumkeag people.
Considering that Beverly was originally a part of Salem in the early days of colonial America, the city decided to celebrate its 400th birthday in 2026 rather than in 2068, the 400th anniversary of when it separated from Salem in 1668.
At The Cabot last Wednesday, Mayor Mike Cahill recalled memories of the city’s 300th birthday celebration when he was 6 years old, when the city still considered its official birthday to fall on the 1668 date.
“In 1968, I got to march with my older brother’s Cub Scout Den in the Tercentenary parade that formed behind Flair’s Cleaners and marched down the whole length of Cabot Street down to where it meets Rantoul by the waterfront and turned back all the way to the Shoe,” he said.
Organizers at Wednesday’s event shared what celebrations Beverly will see this time around, like the Winter Wonderland Festival held at Lynch Park on Saturday that featured alpacas, activities like ice skating and crafts, and sweet treats.
This year, there will be a golf tournament, citywide scavenger hunt, filmed in Beverly movie film festival, trivia nights, an adult mixer, porchfest, dog park event and more, including an authentic muster at Hale Farm and reenactment of the 1775 battle between the colonial schooner Hannah and the British ship Nautilus on Oct. 10 and 11.
Volunteers are still needed to act as colonial townspeople who rush to the water in defense of the Hannah during that event.
Historic Beverly will also put together a time capsule with items from the community throughout the year.
Beverly Homecoming will span 10 days instead of six in honor of the birthday and feature The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at Beverly High School from July 29-Aug. 2. There will also be a car show and cook out for veterans near the wall while it is on display.
The annual Holiday parade will be bigger too, with each elementary school creating a float to feature in the parade.
At the heart of it all will be a celebration of Beverly’s history, and future.
Beverly 400+ will revitalize Independence Park as a gift to the city. The organization will make the park ADA accessible and create a more cohesive memorial to the historical events that took place there, including that Beverly residents were first read the Declaration of Independence there in 1776.
Another gift from Beverly 400+ will be a new pollinator garden in Beverly Common.
For more information about Beverly 400+ and its events, visit https://beverly400.org/.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.