Beverly 'Warrior Weekend' Planned Ahead Of Memorial Day

BEVERLY, MA — Plans for a "Warrior Weekend" event that could eventually turn Beverly into a North Shore destination for patriotic celebration and service remembrance the week before Memorial Day is planned for this spring.

Beverly Veterans Agent David Perinchief said all branches of service have already confirmed they will bring teams, attractions and equipment for the military festival that Perinchief said he hopes will evolve into a "mini Fleet Week" for the city and region.

"This will be a large event — as in North Shore large," he told the City Council during this week's meeting. "The goal long term is to make Beverly a mini Fleet Week stop before the Memorial Day weekends that usually happen in New York."

Perinchief said that attendees planned already include the State Police search and rescue team for demonstrations, a U.S. Navy band, tanks, Air Force mini jets, a possible skydive team, and "anything that can fly vertically to land in Beverly."

He said there will also be representatives from the Veterans Administration to perform blood tests, administer COVID-19 shots and provide other health services to those veterans who cannot make it to the Bedford VA Hospital, as well as the Beverly High ROTC, and additional veterans services representatives to assist with claims and benefits.

He said the event is planned for the weekend before Memorial Day because the assets and personnel are more available that weekend instead of the long holiday weekend when they are spread thin throughout the region.

Warrior Weekend will take place at Beverly High School.

"Beverly has a unique location," Perinchief said. "We're far enough north that residents from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire can make a drive down here, and if we build the event year after year — and when the military assets see that it's beneficial to them — they will provide more assets.

"So that's why I'm working so hard to make this happen with as few hiccups as possible."

A planning meeting is set for Feb. 16 from noon to 2 p.m., at the Federal Emergency Management Agency facility on Airport Road, which is expected to also be available virtually for those who cannot attend in person.

He said he hopes once the Warrior Weekend is established in Beverly it will grow each subsequent year.

"We have to start thinking after the first, second, maybe third event, how that starts to benefit main streets, downtown, local restaurants, businesses, tourism in general," he said. "It gives Beverly a unique event right before the long weekend, so then we get the benefit of families (attending) who would have left before the long weekend that will still be in town.

"It's going to take some time to get it up and running to what I envision but we're off to a pretty strong start."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)