Salem News – Page 8 – Salem Main Streets

Snowstorms! Seahawks! Salem You Need a Sweet Break!

Contests, Salem Dining, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Volunteer Opportunities No Responses »

Feb 052015

Snowstorms to the left; snowstorms to the right. And the Seattle Seahawks in between. Salem sure has had a lot in the news to contend with over the past week. But we weathered the weather and the Patriots took the air out of the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. Now it’s….. chocolate time! Our annual Salem’s So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture Festival (Feb. 6 – 15, 2015) is about to get underway and what a way to celebrate the Super Bowl victory, spoil your loved one and forget about the weather than with some wine, chocolate and fun events to warm the heart.

Our week-long celebration leading up to Valentine’s Day kicks off Friday, Feb. 6, 6:30 to 8:30 pm in Colonial Hall at Rockafellas with a chocolate extravaganza. If it’s chocolatey and a restaurant or store sells it in the city, then it will most likely be represented at one of the sampling tables. For the price of admission, one glass is given to each ticket holder to fill and refill all evening, tasting wines that go with chocolate.

And then there is the chocolate. And not just chocolate (we love saying that). There have been in the past chocolate-covered pretzels & cherries, mousse, a chocolate wine, chocolate ice cream, cakes, cookies, etc. etc. etc. It’s ok. Indulge. We won’t tell.

2015 Participating Merchants

62 Restaurant and Wine Bar
Adriatic Restaurant and Bar
Artemisia Botanicals
Caffé Graziani
Coffee Time Bake Shop
Far From the Tree Hard Cider
Gulu-Gulu Café
Harbor Sweets
Jodi Bee Bakes
Melita Fiore Patisserie
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt
Pamplemousse
Rockafellas
Salem Waterfront Hotel
Salem Wine Imports
Turtle Alley Chocolates
Victoria Station & Vic’s Boathouse
Village Tavern
Ye Olde Pepper Companie

There is of course more to the Festival, such as our popular Ice Sculptures, and promotions offered by individual merchants. More on these in our next blog.

Reminder, tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased over the phone at 978-744-0004, online here, or in person at the Salem Chamber of Commerce, 265 Essex Street, Suite 101. Don’t delay, they usually sell out very quickly.

Great Holidays Do Really Begin Here in Salem

Contests, New Businesses, Salem Dining, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Salem Shopping, SMS News No Responses »

Dec 102014

Can you remember a simpler time when holiday shopping was a simple stroll through friendly hometown stores and not a race through impersonal, giant, crowded malls? We do. And we are bringing that back.

Salem Main Streets is introducing a Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 13th to encourage residents to shop local and enjoy their downtown during the holiday season. Over 40 downtown retailers have committed to staying open until 8 pm on the 13th, and most will be offering special holiday discounts, promotions, and yummy refreshments all day.

How’s that for customer appreciation and “small town” ambiance.

A full list of participating retailers is available for your use.

In keeping with our goal of this being a total community effort, Boy Scout Troop 83 will be running a gift-wrapping station on Derby Square throughout the day, and will be joined by Troop 24, which will be selling wreaths in part to benefit the restoration of the Arch on Salem Common.

And while we are promoting all things Salem for Dec. 13th, don’t miss the Pickering Wharf businesses’ Winter Walk of the Wharf, including a stroll with Santa from 1-4 pm.

But that’s not the only event we have to make your trip worth your time. To add that extra bit of spice to our holiday gift to shoppers, Main Streets is once again conducting the Salem Holiday Window Contest, which runs now thru Dec. 13th.

Over 40 downtown businesses will be participating in the annual Holiday Window Contest, and this year the public can vote on their favorites at a participating business, or online at www.salemmainstreets.org/windows. These retailers go all out to do up their windows to entertain you, and if past entries are any indications (and they are!), we have many, many creative minds— and a couple of far out ones, as you would expect from Salem, MA. A full map of participating windows can be found here. Voting ends on Dec. 13th.

And one more thing. Creative Salem is giving us an extra promotional boost (…thank you, John…) with a related photo contest. For your chance to win a Creative Salem prize pack (valued at $150) take a picture while you are strolling through town or looking at store windows. Share it on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Vine); use the hashtag #salemwindows when posting! Winner will be chosen on the 14th.

Shop, vote, take pictures, find bargains, chat with friendly sales people. All courtesy of your downtown merchants of Salem, MA.

For additional info, contact Kylie Sullivan, Salem Main Streets Manager, at 978-744-0004 or kylie@salemmainstreets.org.

Salem Makes Top 20 List of ‘Hot’ Mass. Communities

Salem Event 2 Responses »

Nov 162014

You may have missed this item this week, so it bears repeating: WCVB in Boston reported on a survey by numbers-crunching company NerdWallet that puts a bright spotlight on Salem and neighboring communities.

Granted, it’s our job at Salem Main Streets to say how great downtown Salem is as an entertainment, dining, and daytrip destination. Same rationale applies to Destination Salem and other local groups dedicated to promoting Salem to the masses. So, it is nice when someone else says it, and with tons of statistics.

According to WCVB “NerdWallet crunched the numbers for the 61 communities in Massachusetts with more than 20,000 residents to find those demonstrating growth in jobs, income and population. The most recent data — from 2009 to 2012 — was used.”

Here are some cities and towns in our area:

#50 Gloucester
#49 Danvers
#45 Boston
#40 Peabody
#32 Marblehead
#15 Beverly
#14 Lynn

And in 13th place (where else would the Witch City be?) is Salem. We are in the Top 20; almost the top 10. All this goes to say that besides being a nice place to visit, Salem is a good place in which to live, and getting better. Thanks NerdWallet for sharing!

(For the curious, 1st place was awarded to Westfield Ma.)

Image courtesy of Pong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sounds Like a Good Time Planned at PEM

Salem Dining, Salem Event No Responses »

Sep 172014

Has it been a month since the last PEM/PM party? The calendar says “yes” and off we go. An Evening in Praise of Audio is the title for this Thursday’s late evening festivities when the Peabody Essex Museum opens its doors from 6 – 9 pm for an event to dazzle the senses.

MIT (yes, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is sending some creative minds from the MIT Media Lab to share their latest project. Let’s repeat that. MIT is going to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Ma to share one of their projects with you: radiO-o

What is it?

According to the press release, you wear one of their battery-powered, button-like speakers and help crowdsource the soundtrack to the evening. Then, see MIT’s Opera of the Future create beautiful imagery generated from this interactive musical project.

In the Atrium, experience the sounds of DJ Kongo and DJ White Animal Sound and check out an impressive collection of vintage radios courtesy of the New England Antique Radio Club. Stop by the Maker Lounge to paint with sound and to build your own mini speakers for your smartphone.

Paint with sound. Intriguing. To give you a better idea of this event, the good people at Creative Salem put together an overview.

As always, PEM members and Salem residents (with ID) are admitted free of charge; nonmembers pay $10 at the door. There will be a cash bar and special small plate menu items from the Hawthorne Hotel. For additional info, call PEM at 978-745-9500. It is located at 161 Essex St.

Turner & the Sea Hours Extended

History, Salem Event No Responses »

Aug 272014

“Fishermen at Sea” (courtesy Peabody Essex Museum)

The Sea and Salem Mass. have had a rich historical association, thus it comes as no surprise that the current Turner & the Sea exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum has been critically and publicly acclaimed. And to give everyone a good, last chance to see it for the first time or 2nd or 3rd, viewing hours have been expanded for Wednesday & Thursday nights (August 27 & 28) to 9pm. The showing ends on September 1, 2014

This represents the largest U.S. exhibition of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s maritime paintings. The exhibition features more than 100 works encompassing oils, watercolors, prints and sketches from the 1790s to the mid-1800s.

This first full-scale examination of Turner’s lifelong attraction to the sea follows the artist’s evolution from precocious young painter to one of the most important, controversial and prolific masters of his art.

Here are some comments from attendees:

—The fury, the power, the light!

—What a stunning, powerful exhibit – actually brings me to tears, it is so awe-inspiring. To see the breadth of his work, and in context with the work of other painters, and the sketches…I will be back many times to take it all in. Thank you.

— I can’t help but feel that this is the show PEM was born for…

And one that quite succinctly says it all…

— Feeling soaked and motion sick. I wiped salt from my face.

PEM members, Salem residents and children 16 and under are always admitted for free. For the extended hours of Aug. 27 and 28 there will be a discounted admission of $10 after 5 pm. For more info, call 978-745-9500.

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