Pictures from the weekend

Dress for the occasion with Witch Tee's

Loved this family walking to the train.

You may need some ear flaps with your witch hat today (brrr).

Hats of all shapes and sizes for sale on Essex Street.

One of our many buskers.

You may run into these lovely ladies on the Pedestrian Mall.

Friday night on the Radio 92.9 Stage

The crowds on Sunday.

The Whiskey Brothers on the Fountain Stage on Sunday.

"You can go with this, or you can go with that."

Evan Goodrow Band on Sunday.

Weather Cancellations and Updates

Oh, this is so depressing.  I can't believe I'm beginning a blog post for weather cancellations because of a potential SNOW storm.

That said, we are still optimistic that we will get mostly rain and a wintery mix in Salem, and that it won't come in until this evening.  We are hoping that all daytime events will go off without a hitch, and most nighttime events (because they are inside) will also be unaffected.

Please drive safely tonight if there is a wintery mix falling in Salem.

CANCELLATIONS

Radio 929 Stage on Washington Street - Music has been cancelled for Saturday night (due more to the anticipated winds than to the precipitation).  The Shock Top Beer Garden will be OPEN from 4pm-11pm (with heaters).

The Haunted Film Series on Salem Common, featuring Beetlejuice tonight, has been cancelled.

The Salem Ferry shut down for the day after the 1pm departure from Salem.  For alternate transportation, please use the MBTA Commuter Rail Newburyport/Rockport line.  Schedules are available at MBTA.com.

Radio 929 is in the house!

The stage and tents are going up on Washington Street!  The Radio 92.9 Street Team is decorating their hearts out, and the music begins at 6:00 PM.

The weekend has officially begun!

Top Five Costume Balls in Salem this weekend

Are you ready?  Is your costume ready?  Here's the short list of the TOP FIVE Costume Balls in Salem.  They vary in price and intensity, so one of them is sure to fit your Halloween expectations.  Wherever you go, take pictures... and send them to me at kfox@salem.org.  I just might share them on the blog next week!

5.  The Zombie Prom at Vic's Boathouse on Pickering Wharf.  Any party that merges zombies with high school prom dresses and ruffled tuxes has a bright future in my book.  9:30 PM on Friday, no cover, VictoriaStationSalem.com

4.    Bridget Bishop Costume Ball at 43 Church.  43 Church, located in the former Lyceum, is located on the land that belonged to Bridget Bishop, who was condemned during the Salem Witch Trials. This was her apple orchard, and some say they can smell apples... when there are none being cooked.  Toast Bridget's spirit with some hard cider on Saturday night.  8pm - 12am. 43Church.com

3.  Wicked Night on the Wharf at the Salem Waterfront Hotel boasts a costume competition, awesome music, and TV Diner host and Kiss 108 personality Billy Costa.  What more could you ask for? Saturday night, 6pm - 12am. SalemWaterfrontHotel.com

2.  The Official Salem Witches' Halloween Ball, the edgiest of the balls, this year the Witches' ball has a  Lords of the Underworld, theme.  The costumes for this ball are always fantastic, as is the entertainment.  Friday night, 7:30pm - 12:30am. FestivalOfTheDead.com



1.  The Hawthorne Hotel's Costume Ball has a Saturday Fright Fever theme this year, which leads me to believe there will be zombies doing the hustle. John Travolta should be watching his back, because I suspect his white leisure suit is going to be in high demand.  Three floors of music and entertainment await at this, the grandest ball of them all.  8pm - Midnight on Saturday.  HawthorneHotel.com


There are other balls, parties, and live music events throughout the weekend.  Visit HauntedHappenings.org for all of the details.  So much fun, so hard to choose.  Which ball will you choose?!

Images from Biz Baz Weekend

Many thanks to the thousands of people who made Salem your destination this past weekend.  We hope you enjoyed the Biz Baz, movie on the Common, Spirits of the Gables, walking tours, museums, shopping and dining. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend.  If we didn't see you this weekend (or even if we did!), we hope to see you soon.  Twenty days remain in Salem Haunted Happenings - plenty of time to join us for Halloween fun!

Music on the Fountain Stage presented by The Gathering

Glass pumpkins for sale at the Biz Baz Street Fair

ALL SOLD OUT! (Make sure you make reservations!)

Mortuary Art by The Gravestone Girls

Day of the Dead art

Witch hats and butterfly wings

We saw a lot of happy Segway tours this weekend!

Monsters being nice at Frankenstein's Lab in the Haunted Village

A Cappella serenade by Salem High School's "Witch Pitch" group

2011 Haunted Happenings Guides are here!

The 2011 Guide to Haunted Happenings has arrived! You can request your copy (if you haven't already - and many of you have!) by emailing us at info@hauntedhappenings.org.  

We will have the PDF on HauntedHappenings.org shortly!

 

Haunted Happenings Images

We're getting excited about Haunted Happenings and October.  Here are some photos to get you excited, too!  All images were taken by Jared Charney. 

 

 

 

 141 Days and Counting! 

Travel to Salem on WatchMojo.com

I liked this quick travel piece on Salem.  We can't wait for fall! 

Salem Witch Christian Day talks Halloween with Fox 25's A.J. Burnett

 

If you want to learn more about witches, visit any of the Witch Shops in Salem, or visit WitchVox.com.  They have a great FAQ page. 

Tickets are still available for the Salem Witches Ball, and the Festival of the Dead Psychic Fair runs through Sunday. 

Food, Music, and Carnival Hours

You can't get into Salem too early this weekend - the earlier you arrive, the easier your travel will be. The Salem Regional Visitor Center (2 New Liberty Street) is open 9am-5pm daily.  Most museums and attractions open at 10am, and most have extended hours. 

The Salem Witch Museum is open until midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend!  Midnight!

The Witch Dungeon, Witch History, and New England Pirate Museums will be open until 7pm on Friday and until 9pm on Saturday and Sunday. 

Radio 92.9 will be setting up their Main Stage on Saturday morning, and there will be live bands performing from 4:00 pm- 10:15 pm on both days, including Ernie and the Automatics at 8:30 pm on Saturday.  The Radio 92.9 Main Stage Music is FREE!  Yes, Free!!  The stage will be on Washington Street near Federal Street, near the MBTA train station.

The Anheiser-Busch Beer Garden will be open from 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm (last call at 9:15 pm) on Saturday and Sunday.  The beer garden will be on Federal Street, adjacent to the Main Stage.  There is no cover charge, but you must be 21+ to enter with proper ID. 

The carnival on Derby Street will be open until 9:00 pm on Thursday, Noon - 10pm on Friday and Sunday, and Noon - 11pm on Saturday.   There is not charge to enter the carnival, and ride tickets are available on site.

The food court on Salem Common will be open until 9:00 pm on Thursday, and 11:00 am - 10:00 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Food concessions on the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall will be open until 10pm on Thursday and 10:00 am - 10:00 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Last, but not least, here are the times for the bands performing on the Radio 92.9 Mainstage on Saturday and Sunday. These are open-air concerts, and they are free. 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30

4:00… 51 Shortfalls

5:15… Fire Hazard

6:45… Honors

8:30… Ernie and the Automatics

SUNDAY,OCTOBER 31

4:00… Streight Angular

5:30… Ashlands Attic

7:00… 51 Shortfalls

8:30… The Replicas

There will also be bands performing on Salem Common, Hawthorne Boulevard (Grateful Ted and Britannica), and Front Street (Undercover Band) on Sunday evening.  Does your costume include dancing shoes?!

All of this information is, of course, subject to change.  But we hope it won't!

Photos from a visitior...

I'm not kidding when I ask you to send me your pictures of Salem! I would love to feature your pictures in a future blog post!

Today, we have pictures from Kathy, who visited with her husband from Hudson Valley, New York.  They were here over Columbus Day Weekend, and clearly caught a bit of the Zombie walk!  

Email your pictures to me at destinationsalem@gmail.com, and you could be featured in a future blog post!  If you have a really fantastic image, enter it in Destination Salem's photo contest. The submission deadline is December 1st! 

Thanks, Kathy! Glad you had fun!

Leave your broomstick at home and ride the T to Salem!

The MBTA has released its schedule for October 23-24 and 30-31.  Each year the T enhances their service to Salem to accommodate everyone coming in for Haunted Happenings, and we appreciate it!

If you're coming up for Halloween, look for the double-decker trains again this year! 

Visit http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/haunted_happenings/ for all of the information!

Traffic in and out of Salem for Haunted Happenings can get pretty tedious.  Take the train and you won't have to worry about it!

(Once you arrive in Salem via train, step off the train and turn to your left.  There is a stairwell at the end of the platform that will take you up to the top of Washington Street. Follow Washington Street to Essex Street, and you will find yourself at Town House Square, surrounded by shops, restaurants, and our temporary visitor information booth.  Everything in Salem is walkable, just wear comfortable shoes!!)

Salem Haunted Happenings featured in "La Presse" in Quebec

We hosted a delightful travel writer in Salem last week.  The writer, Stephanie Morin, was working on a feature about Salem Haunted Happenings for La Presse. The feature ran on Saturday, October 16, and it is a lovely travelogue of Stephanie's experiences in Salem.  Her photographs, including this one of Erik Rodenheiser from The Witches Cottage and Ghosts & Legends Trolley Tours, are wonderful, too.

You can read Stephanie's story, Salem Bewitched, (in French) here: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/voyage/etats-unis/201010/14/01-4332497-salem-envoutee.php.

3-D Frights at Salem's 13 Ghosts!

It's a haunted house time of year!  For a truly unique experience, include Salem's 13 Ghosts at 131 Essex Street on your itinerary this October.  13 Ghosts is not your ordinary haunted house - this is a 3-D experience, and it's a bit freaky.

When I wasn't being scared to scream by ghosts and ghouls hopping out of nooks and crannies, I was admiring how incredible the painting and artwork is.  There is a definite technique and art to creating an effective 3-dimensional experience, and Salem's 13 Ghosts has it.  

Just like at the movie theater, you have to wear the 3-D glasses, and you meet a few ghouls who help you find your way in the maze.  There are a few self-guided moments, including one through a darkened hallway (I was very happy just not entering this hall, but apparently there was a schedule to keep, and I had to go forward), and then there was the room with the river...  even the floors are 3-D in a few of the rooms, and I wasn't sure where to step.  That was about the point when I wanted to ditch the 3-D glasses so I could see what was where, but I was a good sport and kept them on.

Two ghosts wishing us well as we left 13 Ghosts

In addition to the Haunted House, Salem's 13 Ghosts also has a Ghost Tour that is led by costumed guides who tell stories from the town's witch trials history and the Puritan spirits that are said to still haunted Salem today.

Combination tickets are available for the haunted house and the ghost tour, and 13 Ghosts has extended weekend hours in October. Visit Salems13Ghosts.com for more information and to buy tickets online. 

Wizardly Wonders at the Griffen Theatre

Here's a great take for kids!  The Griffen Theatre is presenting a weekday program called Wizardly Wonders at the Witches Cottage that takes the special effects and props used in the regular Witches Cottage pruduction and gives them a magical spin that is just right for kids.

In the lobby of the Witches Cottage with the newest resident.

I took my guinea pigs, I mean children, last week and they loved it - especially my 6-year-old, who fully embraced the audience participation aspect of the show.

The audience is greeted by a friendly and quick-witted wizard who engages the children in magical tricks and spells, ultimately awarding each child with a magical glow ring after they have demonstrated their wizardliness.

With Huggle the friendly wizard.

There is some darkness, and there are some special effects that are intended to be fun.  In the show we attended, one child was upset by some of the wand "bursts," so the wizard promised to make his wand silent (I wondered if this was the vibrate mode?) for the rest of the show.  The small theater environment is great, because it allows for that kind of interaction, which allowed for the child and family to stay for the rest of the show.  

I've seen the Witches Cottage program, which is called "Fright Nights" for October, a few times and I always enjoy it.  I really enjoyed seeing what are startling special effects in the Fright Night show adapted for kids.

Wizardly Wonders runs at 3:00 PM on weekdays through October.  The show lasts just over 30 minutes.  Admission is $10 adults, $6 children, $25 for a family of 2 adults, 2 kids.

Pictures from the weekend

What a weekend!  Were you here?  The weather was simply incredible!  And there were so many great things happening around town.  Here are a few pictures from around town this weekend.
 

Looking down Essex Street at the Biz Baz (a truly unique bazarre!)

Sampling Dr. Oetker's Pizza on Hawthorne Boulevard.

The crowd gathering to watch Hocus Pocus on Salem Common on Saturday night.

Hats were definitely a hot item for visitors to the Biz Baz this weekend.

Down at Pickering Wharf, the Witches Education Bureau hosted the 15th Annual "Ask a Witch, Make a Wand."

A unique souvenir!

The annual Bootiful Pets competition happened on Sunday on Salem Common.  These beautiful princesses were our favorite.

As always, if you have pictures from the Haunted Happenings that you would like to share, send them to me at destinationsalem@gmail.com, or (if they're really good!) submit them to Destination Salem's photo contest!