Volunteer Opportunities – Page 6

Keeping the Kid in Halloween

Oct 012013

Before the Halloween celebration is ravaged by the hordes of grown-ups and the wild costumes, we in Salem make sure the children get their day in the sun (so to speak…).

The Haunted Happenings Grand Parade. If you know anything about Salem Ma and our month-long Haunted Happenings celebration, you have heard of this march around town.

This year step off is at 6:30pm on Oct. 3; it begins at Shetland Park, ambles through Salem, and ends at the Common. The theme is “Books Come Alive.” Most any resident in Salem can tell you they were either a parent, relative or neighbor of some child who marched in the parade— or they were in the parade themselves.

According to Rinus Oosthoek, Executive Director, Salem Chamber of Commerce, “It is a night-time tradition that brings out the entire city and people from all of the surrounding cities and towns to kick off the Halloween season. It is filled with color, pageantry, music and the enthusiasm of thousands of Salem’s students from kindergarten to college age and local business owners.”

To mount such an undertaking, though, The Chamber of Commerce is still looking for volunteers to help.

Volunteers will be helping with:

Helping participants find their spot in the parade
Lining up the 8 parade line-up sections
Finding banner carriers in their section (or walking/carrying the banner in the parade themselves).
All volunteers can join the VIP’s at the end of the Parade on the Grandstand in front of the Common.

It’s fun and we call the event “organized chaos” from start to finish…., and we hope you can help.

Volunteers should be at the entrance to Shetland Office park between 5-5.30pm to receive their assignment and pick up their volunteer T-shirt.

Contact the Chamber at info@salem-chamber.org or call 978-745-3855.

If that wasn’t enough, Friday night, Oct. 4, there are two more events in which the little ones can participate.

The Mayor’s Night Out (3-10pm) is when Mayor Kimberly Driscoll, in partnership with Salem’s attractions and museums, welcomes Salem residents to check us out on our dime. Salem residents (kids too) with ID, are admitted free to attractions and museums. ID also provides free parking in the East India Mall garage after 4pm. Look for “Mayor’s Night Out” signs at participating businesses.

Our mayor is a busy person…. you can Join Mayor Driscoll for Trick-or-Treating at the East India Fountain. We will Trick-or-Treat along the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, The Museum Place Mall Shops, and beyond. Trick-or-Treat Bags provided. Costumes encouraged. Parents bring the kids. Kids bring your parents.

For more information on these two events, call Salem City Hall at 978-745-9595.

Wanted: Ambassadors To Share Salem

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Sep 082013

September means many things to people along the North Shore, but here in Salem it foretells the approach of October and our month-long celebration of all things Halloween-related.

As Salem prepares for its busy October tourist season, residents are invited to help people who come to the Witch City that month make the most of their visit.

“Salem Main Streets is recruiting 60 – 80 volunteer ambassadors to staff the downtown information booth during October weekends and Halloween day itself; the booth is located at the Essex Street pedestrian mall,” announces Judy Kearney, co-coordinator (along with Mira Riggin) of the SMS booth project. The ambassadors will hand out maps to tourists and provide them with information about Salem’s attractions, businesses and October events.

She adds, “There is also a particular need for multilingual ambassadors to assist international visitors.”

Each volunteer ambassador will be asked to commit to two, two-hour shifts and to complete a training program scheduled for 9:30am on September 21 at the National Park Service Regional Visitor Center, 2 New Liberty Street.

The downtown information booth operates each year in October and last year assisted more than 27,500 visitors.

For more information or to become a volunteer ambassador, email Judy Kearney at judykearney830@gmail.com, Mira Riggin at mriggin2@comcast.net, or call Salem Main Streets at 978 744-0004.

The Point is About Salem

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Aug 092013

We hope residents and visitors alike have been enjoying our Salem Ma Heritage Days celebration. There is a great deal of planning, investment of volunteer time and resources involved to pull it off. Variety of events is a key factor. And Sunday we have another dimension in events called “Get to The Point: Neighborhood Narratives” which is an installation by Salem Public Space Project (SPSP) showcasing memories experienced by Point residents in their neighborhood.

SPSP will accomplish this through an interactive installation featuring stories and postcards of the Point; they will be set up in front of the Derby Square bookstore on Essex Street from 10am – 4:30pm on Sunday.

Salem Public Space Project pictures & postcard

Best way to describe the project is to do it in their own words.

“How do you get to know a place? Often it happens without your realization, and soon you know it like the back of your hand.

Other times, knowing a place takes effort, but there are tools to help: maps, photos, descriptions, signs, GPS, phone apps, your own eyes, and the friendly residents you may encounter.

The members of the Salem Public Space Project seek to know the public spaces of Salem with the help of all these tools, and especially residents. SPSP will document, gather, organize and analyze input to curate the Past Stories, Present Narratives and Future Possibilities of Salem’s Public Spaces – which are, in fact, Salem itself.”

To know the past is to better understand the present and the future. Take a look at their Facebook page and website for more info.

Volunteers Needed in October

Haunted Happenings, Salem Festivals, SMS News, Uncategorized, Volunteer Opportunities No Responses »

Aug 222012

Volunteers Needed as Visitor Ambassadors

Salem Main Streets is looking for volunteers with enthusiasm for Salem to help greet visitors at the Downtown Salem Information Booth in October. Volunteers will staff the booth at the start of the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall handing out maps and giving out information about Salem’s wide variety of attractions, events and businesses. Last year volunteers assisted over 25,000 visitors during the weekends and holidays. Volunteers will be trained.

All volunteers are asked to be available for a minimum of two shifts for two hours each and will be required to complete a one hour training session. The training will take place on Saturday, September 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the National Park Service Regional Visitor Center. If you enjoy helping visitors by showing them your enthusiasm for our cultured and historic city and want to make it fun and easy for visitors to explore all of Salem’s sites and attractions, please join us.

For more information or to become a volunteer please email Volunteer Coordinators, Judy Kearney at judykearney830@gmail.com or Mira Riggin at mriggin2@comcast.com or call Salem Main Streets at (978)744-0004. This program, which assists visitors to Salem in October, is a partnership between Salem Main Streets, the National Park Service, the City of Salem, Destination Salem and the Salem Chamber of Commerce.

4th Annual Arts Festival A Success!

Salem Festivals, SMS News, Uncategorized, Volunteer Opportunities No Responses »

Jun 042012

We hope you enjoyed the 4th annual Salem Arts Festival! Whether you came for the music or dance, art exhibit or shopping, Salem was the place to be for inspiration this past weekend. This year boasted over 80 artists showcasing an array of talents and mediums and we are happy to say that our goal of promoting the arts in downtown Salem was well received. This year for the first time the art in the Juried Art Show was available for purchase and artists sold over $3,600 in art this past weekend. During the weekend there was painting, photography, sculpture, dance, live music, readings, film, mixed media, live theater and more. We also hope you took this opportunity to enjoy the Lady of Salem Figureheads brought to you by Salem’s Beautification Committee. Thanks to all the artists, performers, volunteers, jurors and committee members who donated their time and talents to make this all possible. The Arts Festival is just another example of what it means to be a part of the vibrant Downtown Salem community. We would also like to thank our donors: the Salem Cultural Council, Salem State University, the Peabody Essex Museum and Eastern Bank. To get involved planning the 2013 festival or to give feedback on the festival contact organizer Jennifer Bell at Jennifer@salemmainstreets.org.

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