Essex Tech To Host 2023 Larkin Cottage Renovation Fundraising Gala

DANVERS, MA — Essex Tech High School will host the annual Larkin Gala to help support the ongoing renovation of the Catherine Larkin Memorial Practice Cottage and present the Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award on May 20.

The gala will take place under a tent on the front lawn of Smith Hall with music, hors d'oeuvres, a live and silent auction and farm-to-table meals prepared by Essex Tech culinary students.

Essex Tech will present the 2023 Larkin Lifetime Achievement Award that night to a community member who has demonstrated great success in the local agricultural industry.

The Larkin Memorial Cottage was built in 1950 and named after Lt. Catherine Larkin, an alumna
of the Essex County Agricultural School homemaking program and a World War II nurse who died in a plane crash in 1945.

Students are now taking the lead in rebuilding the cottage into a multi-use facility that will include a museum, kitchen, office space, an exhibit hall, lab space and a function room.

All funds for the Larkin Cottage are raised through private donations such as those received via the Larkin Gala. Recent progress on the project includes masonry students performing chimney work, carpentry students completing roof sheathing and trim and installing donated roof shingles.

Landscaping students have presented a unique design for the surrounding grounds, and electrical permits have been secured.

Gala tickets are $150 each — or $12,000 for a table of 10 — and can be purchased here.

Auction items and sponsors are also being sought. Those interested in becoming a sponsor can sign up here.

(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.)