News – Page 69 – Salem Main Streets

Be safe. Be considerate. Use common sense. Halloween in Salem.

Haunted Happenings, Salem Event, Salem Festivals No Responses »

Oct 282014

Really, those are the words that should guide you in your visit to Salem Ma and interactions with other enthusiasts celebrating Halloween here on Friday.

Being that Halloween falls on a Friday, we are expecting a lot of you to invade/join the party. Keep that in mind when you consider your method of transportation in AND out of the city.

And be prepared to leave at the end of the evening. We appreciate you having a good time. Of course, when the party’s over, the party’s over and we have to clean up. But, the street party concludes with fireworks. Yes we have fireworks on Halloween!

We try to make it a fun event, but to do so, there are some rules to also make it safe for everyone. Please take a few minutes to look them over.

That link also gives a schedule of the day & evening events, courtesy of our friends at HauntedHappenings.org.

For example, did you know we also have a Fiesta Shows Carnival, a Shock Top Beer Garden, more than one costume ball, and live music in spots across the city? This is after all, a big bad Halloween bash to end our month-long Haunted Happenings celebration.

Oh, also, do not bring weapons real or fake to Salem on Halloween. You may know how to properly wield a broad sword but someone else may not. Anything that looks like a weapon will be confiscated.

Enjoy and come back next year!

Open Market Open For Biz – Traditional and a Bit Strange

Haunted Happenings, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Salem Shopping 2 Responses »

Oct 232014

Where can you find the “best independent designers, artisans, artists and crafters together in a maelstrom of cutting edge design, art and handmade wares?” Where else but in Salem Ma; Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the last three weeks of October, you will find SOWA, an open-air arts market with over 50 booths.

Just to give you an idea of the eclectic items that await you, here are descriptions of three vendors that have been or will be available on the weekend.

Nick & Jillian of R.H. Mardigan Enterprises and Emry’s Handcrafted Fynery. She makes jewelry and accessories out of ephemera, resin and other findings. He makes leather cuffs and accessories with a steampunk flair. And from the Steampunk events at the Peabody Essex, you know there is interest in that genre.

Diane Koss of Cutesy But Not Cutesy, specializes in making monsters (we think we’ve seen a few of those in recent weeks in Salem), but she also makes monster designer toys that you can cuddle; and a popular item has been the amazing monster hoodies for kids, adults and dogs!

And then there is the strange relationship between Zombies (always a big item in Salem during October) and published author / illustrator Greg Stones. Just look at this picture representing (at least to us) the clash of a long running horror theme and a recent over-the-top horror craze.

SOWA will run Friday-Sunday 10/24-26 at Derby Square Vending from 11 am – 6 pm, and Essex Street Vending from 11am – 10 pm. For more info go to their website http://newenglandopenmarkets.com/

On to the Next Season…

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Oct 222014

Ahhh, the good old days…

Sadly, after weeks and weeks of beautiful weather, our Salem Farmers’ Market has ended its season a little earlier than planned due to a good old-fashioned New England nor’easter. Due to the anticipated rain and wind, we have pre-emptively canceled the final market on Oct. 23 for the safety of our vendors and customers.

But what a tremendous season it’s been! We’ve helped over 30 small, local businesses connect face-to-face with their customers on a weekly basis. We welcomed an average of more than 2,100 visitors every week for 18 weeks. Word of mouth is that sales were generally up from last year, and many weeks saw vendors completely sold out of their most popular items. Over 20 local nonprofits were able to share their message with the community – from the Plummer Home to the Phillips House Museum to No Place for Hate. And hopefully, you all tried something new – a new vegetable, a new recipe, or maybe even a whole new way of shopping.

We have a lot of people to thank for the success of this season. Without our amazing vendors and their wonderful products, there would be no market. Without the countless volunteers (especially our rockstar Farmers’ Market committee) who lug tables, manage our social media, or greet our customers, there would be no market. Without our sponsors, including Salem Five Bank, Solarize Salem, Next Step Living, and Salem Chiropractic, and all our partners, like the City of Salem, Mass in Motion, Salem Food Tours, and the Salem Chamber of Commerce, there would be no market. And of course, without all of YOU there would be no market!

Before we call this season “over”, please tell us a little more about you and what you’d like to see at the market.

But don’t despair – the Salem Main Streets will be bringing Salem Winter Market will be back again this year! Starting on November 13 and ending December 18, we will be down on Artists’ Row every Thursday except Thanksgiving from 3 pm to 7 pm. We’ll have some exciting new vendors, especially a few new craft vendors, but we’ll also welcome back a number of your Farmers’ Market favorites – including, but not limited to, Grant Family Farm, Jodi Bee Bakes, Salem Spice, Salem Soapworks, Shine Jewelry/Heritage Handmade, Far From the Tree Cider, and Valicenti Organico. The final list of vendors will be posted within the week on www.salemfarmersmarket.org.

THANK YOU FOR A GREAT SEASON!!!

The “Other” Salem Court Case Presented as Interactive Murder Mystery

Haunted Happenings, History, Salem Dining, Salem Event, Salem Festivals No Responses »

Oct 182014

If you’ve enjoyed the excellent performances by History Alive! Inc. with the interactive and “moving” production of Cry Innocent, then we are here to advise of a 2nd production it presents in Salem, titled Goodnight Captain White. But— this is just a bit different.

Running Oct. 24th, 25th, 31st and November 1st. at Old Town Hall, this comedic-mystery retells the not so well-known true event of the 1830 murder of Salem Sea Captain Joseph White:

It’s 1830. “All friends and well wishers are invited to attend” the retirement party of Captain Joseph White’s favorite ship, the Caroline. But this magnanimous invitation lures a host of enemies and ill-wishers into the perfect opportunity to murder the rich, old captain. Allegiances twist and turn. Foibles are exposed, depravities revealed. It’s up to the audience and an under cover Daniel Webster to figure out whodunit and how.

Written by Mark Stevick and directed by Kristina Wacome Stevick, the tale is about the real Captain Joseph White, a rich, elderly, retired shipmaster, who was murdered while sleeping in his Essex Street home. It has all the elements of good book, movie or TV episode: local folks among the accused & guilty, and a high-profile prosecuting attorney in Senator Daniel Webster, hired by the White family to prosecute for the Commonwealth.

But where is the comedy? Goodnight, Captain White is not a reenactment like Cry Innocent. “We’re not sticking to the exact history here,” Mark Stevick has commented previously. “We follow the original story, but we’ve cut and combined to make for a more high-energy, comic period piece.”

Kristina Wacome Stevick has also stated “Is it right to laugh about terrible behavior? To do so doesn’t mean we endorse murder, adultery, slavery, betrayal. In our laughter we release the tension of recognition. As we watch these extreme fellows careen toward their comeuppance, we’re relieved they are not ourselves and we cringe at the thought that they could be, were our circumstances less privileged or graced.”

Use of innuendo, double entendres, a bit of improv from the actors, and even input from you, the audience, to help uncover & define the clues makes for a lively evening— that has nothing to do with ghosts, goblins or ghouls. Just a nice murder mystery.

Doors open at 7:15pm for “noshing and revelry.” Show begins at 7:30pm. The price of admission includes soirée fare and a “Crowninshield Punch.” For more information email historyalive@gordon.edu or call 978-867-4767.

Stoker and Price to Speak in Salem

Haunted Happenings, History, Salem Event No Responses »

Oct 122014

Obviously neither Bram Stoker (creator of the popular Dracula character) nor Vincent Price (celebrated actor in many a macabre movie) can be here. Both have passed on. But descendants are keeping the memories, stories and work alive… and will be sharing with you this month during Haunted Happenings: Dacre Stoker on 10/16 and Victoria Price on 10/20.

Dacre Stoker is the great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, and himself an author, having written Dracula: The Un-Dead (with Ian Holt) said to be based on handwritten notes of Bram Stoker’s for characters and plot threads. He will be in Salem to discuss the Stoker family perspective on all things Dracula as part of a film screening of the award winning documentary Vampires of New England at CinemaSalem, 7pm on Oct. 16.

Canadian by birth and now living in South Carolina, Stoker has been a teacher and an athletics coach (in fact he is a former Pentathlon world champion and coached the Canadian Pentathlon team in Seoul at the 1988 Summer Olympics). And from this clip, you can hear he is also an engaging speaker.

Dacre Stoker – Garlic and Vampires from Historical Haunts on Vimeo.Called “The Blood is the Life: A Night of Dracula and New England Vampires” the event is presented by Historical Haunts LLC and Cinema Salem. Stoker will be available for photos and autographs afterwards.

For more info go to www.histhaunts.com or www.cinemasalem.com.

This month has also been a celebration of another author, Edgar Allan Poe. Of course one could not visit the written works of Poe without the visual memories of the stories as presented by Vincent Price in many movies. Rounding out the celebration of all things Poe will be a special appearance by Victoria Price, the actor’s daughter on Oct. 20th.

Price will make herself available in three different areas of Salem:

5:30 pm, a walking tour of Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery
6 pm, a lecture/talk at the next-door STV studios.
After the lecture ends, Price will meet with participants at The Scarlet Letter Press & Gallery for an evening of wine & words (she will sign autographs).

Victoria has established herself as a lively, popular public speaker (as you will see in the below clip) on topics ranging from the life of her famous father, to interior/industrial design to the role of the art collector in society.

Victoria Price from thesoundofvincentprice.blogspot.com.Her stories about her dad will charm, entertain and give you insights to the man that we loved to have scare us.

For more info go to The Scarlet Letter Press or The Nightmare Gallery.

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