DANVERS — Some of Priscilla Gerrard's earliest childhood memories stem from the annual Highlands Bean Supper, when townsfolk gathered to enjoy baked beans and each other's company.
People sat outdoors at long tables on wooden chairs and listened to live music while eating ham, all sorts of baked beans, rolls, butter and Hoodsie Cup ice cream desserts.
For the first time in 61 years, the Highlands Common on Centre Street will be quiet on Friday night.
"It's the end of our era," Gerrard said yesterday. "It's very, very sad to see it come to an end."
Faced with dwindling attendance and revenue, Gerrard and the other organizers canceled what would have been the 61st annual Highlands Bean Supper, held every July 3.
"It's sad to see it go, but we didn't want to prolong something that was just not going to be successful," said Gerrard.
The Bean Supper Committee relies on the supper's proceeds to run the Highlands Horribles Parade every July 4, to pay for the ribbons, trophies, refreshments and other costs of the annual parade.
"Last year, we took a big hit," she said, "and in order to continue to have the parade, this was one of the things we had to do. Our mission is to make sure there's always a Fourth of July parade in the Highlands for kids."
The bean supper was founded a few years after World War II by the Weeks and Hutchinson families in Danvers, according to Gerrard.
"People don't bake beans anymore — they open a can," said Gerrard, a lifelong Danvers resident. "This all first happened when ladies in the Highlands would spend days baking beans in bean pots."
At its peak, the supper drew as many as 500 people, and organizers set up long tables across the Highlands Common, also known as the Training Field. To cut costs, the supper eventually evolved to "picnic style," and people brought their own blankets or lawn chairs.
Then 11 years ago, Priscilla and Dana Gerrard and Frank and Karen Kilty volunteered to take over.
"The supper was actually going to end 11 years ago," said Gerrard, who lives in the Holten Street house in which she was raised, "but on the 50th anniversary, we assumed the responsibility of coordinating the supper. We didn't want to see it go."
By last year, fewer than 200 people attended.
"We ended up realizing that it's an old-fashioned thing," said Gerrard, "and a lot of younger people and families are drawn to something more like the fireworks because there's more for their kids to do."
Other factors contributed to the Bean Supper's demise, including the rising cost of food, a dwindling group of volunteers, and the competing events on July 3.
"With everything else that goes on in Danvers on the 3rd, it was kind of a tough sell," she said. "And we really didn't want to go up on the price of the supper. We found a lot of the folks who were our mainstays were on fixed incomes, and that's a lot of money for them."
The supper cost $6.
"There were maybe nine of us who did all the preparation and set-up and clean-up," said Gerrard, "and then we're right back at it the next morning to do the parade."
This year, the committee plans to sell some refreshments during the parade to raise money, and the group may look to sponsorships for next year's parade.
Gerrard said she is "ever grateful" to all of the volunteers who helped over the years.
"It wasn't something we wanted to do, but we felt like its time had come."
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