Haunted Happenings – Page 2 – Salem Main Streets

Horror Fest Creepily Seeps into Sept. PEM/PM Metal Macabaret

Salem Event, Salem Festivals No Responses »

Sep 192017

Now here is a scary good deal! Salem Horror Fest Opening Night Party at PEM/PM featuring Metal Macabaret will take place on the 3^rd Friday of the month (that’s this Friday, Sept. 22^nd at 6 pm) instead of the usual 3^rd Thursday for PEM/PM.

Hauntingly inspired by the current Peabody Essex Museum Exhibition It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection, PEM teamed up with Salem Horror Fest to make an event that will make you tingle all over, from head to toe and through your bones!

The Salem Horror Fest, if you have been locked away in a dungeon, underground somewhere, is a four-week festival of fear (9/21-10/15) here in the Halloween-capital of the world! Screenings, exhibits, parties, concerts, guests & more!

PEM/PM Activities

Creepily create your own horror poster, dance demonly to beats by DJ Zombi and live tunes by Scary Mary and the Audio Corsette. Carve out some time to check out works by locals featured in the Women in Horror expo and enjoy a feature performance by M Lamar.

And the highlight of the evening: you won’t want to miss the 9 pm screening of Night of the Living Dead to kick off the Salem Horror Fest (separate ticket required).

This is THE ultimate big bash opening to the Halloween season! But while costumes and masks will abound on the streets of Salem during our month-long Haunted Happenings celebration, the Peabody Essex Museum asks that for this event you refrain from any full-face makeup or masks in the museum for security reasons.

As with all PEM/PM events, it will also feature after-hours access to the museum galleries, interactive and art-focused experiences, an informal atmosphere including live music or DJ performances, tailored culinary offerings and a cash bar.

The goal is to present to the community multiple opportunities to interact with artists and performers, tinkerers and thinkers.

Members, as well as college students & Salem residents (with ID) will be admitted free of charge. For nonmembers, there is a $12 fee.

The PEM is located at East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA. For more info, call 978-745-9500, or toll free 866-745-1876.

Volunteers Needed Now for Halloween Month-Long Info Booth

History, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Salem Shopping, SMS News, Volunteer Opportunities 1 Response »

Aug 202017

Do you wish to do some good for others in the community? If so, then you are part of the 62.8 million Americans who annually give of their time & skills volunteering. In our case, the community is Salem and we are Salem Main Streets in need of volunteers to help us staff the Visitors’ Info Booth during the upcoming Haunted Happenings Halloween season, which begins October 1^st.

Yes, we know, it is still mid-August and summer is not over. But look at the calendar again from a staffing/training point of view. To be ready to go with scheduled volunteers by October 1^st, we need to send out an invitation now.

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s already time to start planning for Haunted Happenings and the October Information Booth,” says Kylie Sullivan, executive director of Salem Main Streets.

A welcoming orientation will take place on Saturday, September 16 at 9:30 a.m. at the National Park Service Regional Visitor Center, 2 New Liberty Street, Salem, MA. Volunteers will be updated on new October events and there will be time for returning volunteers to share insights and information with those new to the program.

Kylie adds, “Our annual orientation will cover all the basics for new volunteers, and important updates and reminders for our returning ambassadors. Even if you have volunteered in the past, it is important to try to make this training!”

Registration will begin at 9:30 am, with the orientation starting promptly at 10 am. Please remember to bring your ID for the CORI process.

What if you’re neither a native nor a long term transplanted resident and don’t know exactly “where everything is?” You will. Between support from the people in the booth with you during your shifts, to the repeated questions (where are public bathrooms, where can I see something really scary, where did they burn the witches, where can I get a good burger or fish meal), you will.

Purely as a side note, volunteering has been known to help new people in a community make new friends who share common interests & values.

And if you speak more than one language, we clearly could use your help, as many Haunted Happenings attendees are from foreign lands.

For more information, contact Kylie Sullivan, Executive Director, Salem Main Streets at 978/744-0004 x115 or email at www.salemmainstreets.org

No Trick, Salem Treats You to a Halloween PARTY!

History, Salem Event, Salem Festivals No Responses »

Oct 272016

Halloween is no longer just for kids and adults with kids. October 31st in Salem Ma has had a tradition of proving just that. This year, even being on a Monday night, we expect record crowds of adults to converge on Washington Street like a horde of zombies for completion of our month-long Haunted Happenings celebration.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) “Millennial consumers (ages 18-34) are now the most likely of all adult generations to participate in Halloween. They’re also one of the top spenders on Halloween costumes, spending an average $42.39 compared with $31.03 for all adults.”

This youthful population segment has big plans for those costumes too: their intent to attend parties is up 10.9% from 2006, reports the NRF.

Winifred Sanderson: Sisters, All Hallow’s Eve has become a night of frolic, where children wear costumes and run amok!

Sarah: Amok! [dances around] Amok, amok, amok, amok, amok.

And… that brings us back to Salem Ma. We are having a party. Millennials and every other older generation are invited but we want this night of fun and frolic to be a safe one.

This is a link to Halloween Night’s Be Smart, Be Safe, Have Fun suggestions flyer that we urge you to read and make use of. Simple advice is offered, such as if you have to drive here, park someplace else, like Beverly or Danvers. Don’t bring liquor. Don’t bring real swords. Don’t bring fake swords or anything that looks like a weapon. They WILL BE confiscated.

The second part of the flyer has the day & evening festivities schedule, from Shock Top Beer Garden, ( 21+) on Federal St. at Washington Street, to all the different bands at various locations in the Downtown District, to the 10:15pm Halloween Finale Fireworks at Washington Street & Bridge Street.

After the closing fireworks show, please be respectful as you leave town. You may not know this but many parts of the Downtown District are residential. There are people trying to get some sleep because they ARE going to work Tuesday. That brick structure you are leaning up against may look like an empty office building, but it is really a refurbished apartment complex.

And if you are using social media to share with all your friends not lucky enough to be here, consider using the tags #SalemMA and @hauntdhappnings in your pictures & tweets.

Have a great time, we made this party for you!

So You Think You Know About the Salem Witch Trials?

History, Salem Event, SMS News No Responses »

Oct 232016

You’ve read The Crucible in high school. You went to see movies like Salem’s Lot and Hocus Pocus. You may be a fan of the TV show Salem. You know a lot about Salem. Or do you?

For example (spoiler alert) when visitors ask one of our Info Guides to give directions as to where the witches were burned, our response is that no one was “burnt at the stake” in Salem for allegations of witchcraft. Nineteen were tried & hung, another was tortured to death and four died in prison awaiting trial.

Curious about whether what else you know is true or not? Come to Salem this Thursday, Oct. 27 at noon for a 15 minute Tent Talk discussion of The Salem Witch Trials: 10 Misconceptions with Kate Fox, Executive Director, Destination Salem, Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs for the City of Salem. It is sponsored by the Salem Award Foundation for Human Rights and Social Justice.

You are invited to separate the facts from the fiction, ask questions, and gain a firmer understanding of what happened here between 1692 and 1693. The Tent Talk discussion is free of charge.

The tent will be set up, appropriately, at the Witch Trials Memorial, located on Liberty Street between Charter and Derby Streets.

Drawing upon the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the mission of the Salem Award Foundation is to promote awareness, understanding and empathy in support of human rights, tolerance and social justice. It advances social change through educational programming, stewardship of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial as a place of reflection, and by awarding and celebrating contemporary champions who embody its mission.

Hark! We Hear Haunted Harmonies This Weekend

Contests, Salem Event, Salem Festivals No Responses »

Oct 062016

Part performance, part competition, part learning experience and a whole lot of musical entertainment, this Saturday, Salem residents and visitors will be treated to the first annual Haunted Harmonies A Cappella Festival.

Haunted Harmonies is a NEW one-day a cappella festival in Salem, MA built to educate high school and collegiate students on various elements of contemporary a cappella (group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment) and enhance Salem’s Haunted Happenings celebration.

Through workshops and exposure to professional musicians, students will gain skills to improve their musicality and knowledge of a cappella. Students will also provide family-friendly entertainment to the community while experiencing high-level performance opportunities in competition and exhibition on the streets of Salem during the Haunted Harmonies festival and throughout the month of October.

Inspired by the growing enthusiasm for a cappella performance, Haunted Harmonies was created by Alex Grover, Music Director of Danvers High School & former director of Salem High School’s a cappella group WitchPitch?, and Tina Jordan, Director of the Salem Witch Museum.

Jordan explains, “The audience is in for a wonderful musical experience. Whether watching the competition at the Fountain Stage, hearing the Scholastic and Non-Scholastic groups perform at the four other stages on Essex Street, or attending the Professional Showcase in the acoustically amazing Murray Hall at the Bridge at 211 featuring Vox One, the award-winning a cappella jazz quintet that combines elements of blues, funk, gospel, and folk into their own brand of vocal music, the audience will have an opportunity to participate in something special.”

The Scholastic Competition will include:

S#arp Attitude from UMass Amherst,
Fermata Nowhere from UMass Lowell,
Unisons from Northeastern University,
Tonal Recall from Colleges of the Fenway,
4Gotten Suitcase from Ramapo College,
Upper Structure from Berklee College of Music,
the ArgoNotes from Maspeth High School, and
Acapocalypse from Emmanuel College in Boston,
Saugus Sachimes from Saugus High School, and
Ingrid Sound from Danvers High School.

The competition will be opened and hosted by Phoenix, a Boston-based, all female a cappella group.

Jordan continues, “What I love about the design of the festival is that the groups will learn from experts in the a cappella world, Phoenix A Cappella and Berklee College of Music & Women’s A Cappella Association, and will be able to take those lessons and apply them as they perform on the streets of Salem with a Haunted Happenings twist!

Because this festival happens so early in the school year, I think it will also help the individual a cappella groups become more connected, as some have incoming freshmen as new members of their groups and this experience will help them build their relationship with each other.”

The Scholastic Competition will be held on the Fountain Stage on Essex Street from 10am – 12pm and is free to the public. Each of the ten groups will perform and be adjudicated by a panel of professional a cappella performers and professors from Berklee College of Music and the Women’s A Cappella Association.

In the afternoon there will be street singing by non-scholastic performance groups from 1-4pm. A cappella fans can see their favorite scholastic performers again during their Street Singing showcase from 4-5:30pm. There will be five performance locations on Essex Street between Liberty Street and Washington Street.

The Pro Showcase featuring Vox One and the winners of the scholastic competition will be held in Murray Hall at 211 Bridge at 7pm. Advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended; tickets are $8.00 in advance, $10.00 at the door.

For complete information on Haunted Harmonies, visit HauntedHarmonies.com.

The a cappella festival is part of a month of musical programming on the Fountain Stage organized by Salem Gathering, and will coincide with this weekend’s Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair, which is produced by the Salem Chamber of Commerce. For complete information on the month-long Salem Haunted Happenings festival, visit HauntedHappenings.org.

Jordan concludes, “I think this festival will be a wonderful experience for the high school and colleges that will participate, but the real winners will be the visitors and residents who come out to enjoy the music and talent of these wonderful scholastic and non-scholastic performers.”

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