Salem Festivals – Page 32 – Salem Main Streets

Festival & Golden Ticket Promotion Continue Despite Snow

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Feb 102015

Salem loves a Festival. It’s our tradition to REALLY celebrate a holiday. So, it is no surprise that Valentine’s Day has been the recipient of our special magical treatment with this year’s (Feb. 6-15) Salem’s So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture Festival. Saturday is Valentine’s Day and neither snow nor sleet nor ice will deny the event and the on-going Golden Ticket promotion.

Many downtown businesses are offering discounts and special offerings throughout the festival on items that will bring a special smile to your loved ones! By also picking up your Golden Ticket at any of the participating businesses during the festival, you will have a chance to win a Salem’s So Sweet gift basket. Just have the Golden Ticket validated at a minimum of 8 participating businesses (no purchase necessary) to enter.

A full list of participating businesses and promotions are available below or by stopping by the Salem Main Streets office at 265 Essex Street for a brochure. Please also check our Facebook page for updates.

Who’s afraid of snow? Shop early. Shop late. Shop Salem!

(“Golden Ticket” image courtesy of Social Palates via Instagram)

Ice Is Nice – Especially Here in Salem

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Feb 072015

Salem has been invaded by ice creatures, but worry not, as they are friendly. Early morning joggers and breakfast attendees were greeted throughout downtown Salem by workers gently unloading and placing ice sculptures in per-determined sites as part of the Salem‘s So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture Festival.

This year there will be more than 15 large sculptures around downtown Salem, with themes including a mermaid, ruby slippers, a rocking horse, and many more! A map of sculptures and locations is available here and on brochures distributed around town.

Take the kids out and see how many you can find. Make a day of it in Salem.

Many downtown businesses will offer discounts and special offerings throughout the festival! Pick up your Golden Ticket at any of the participating businesses during the festival, have it validated at participating businesses (no purchase necessary), then enter to win a Salem’s So Sweet gift basket. A full list of participating businesses and promotions can be found here.

NOTE: due to the historical amounts of snow we have received, the Salem Trolley will not be running its route on Feb. 7 and 8 as initially planned.

After all the ice on the sidewalks and streets we’ve had to endure and groan about recently, it’s nice to see ice in a way to make you smile. The Salem’s So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture Festival runs Feb. 6-15th.

(Hint: Pikachu and Charizard in front of Harrison’s Comics & Pop Culture)

Snowstorms! Seahawks! Salem You Need a Sweet Break!

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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.

The Party To LAUNCH! All New Year’s Eve Parties

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Dec 292014

“To get off to a good start” and “to enter energetically” are two definitions provided at the Merriam-Webster.com website for the word launch. No wonder we picked it to describe our annual New Year’s Eve celebration here in Salem Ma, this year set for Wednesday, Dec. 31st from 4-7pm.

LAUNCH! is a family-friendly, high-energy, music-filled, kick-off for the new year. We want you to be a part of LAUNCH! Everyone is welcome. Salem resident or not. No need to drive to and then back from Boston. Come on down to Old Town Hall and Derby Square.

And yes, 4-7pm. Our balloon drops promptly at 7pm. We will have the Big Countdown a full 5 hours before everyone else — unless you are celebrating with friends, family or co-workers in Accra (Ghana), Casablanca (Morocco), Dublin (Ireland), Lisbon (Portugal), London (England) and Reykjavik (Iceland) among other global locales where it will be midnight.

“We organized LAUNCH! for the first time last year, and it was immediately clear that this needed to be an annual tradition where the community could truly come together,” states Kylie Sullivan, Salem Main Streets Manager. “Plus there’s still plenty of time after our early countdown to catch one of the many other great events happening all over town on New Year’s Eve!”

There will be New Year’s Eve related activities, crafts for kids of all ages, music by the Dejas, the OnPoint Ensemble, the Boondock Sinners, and more. This event is free of charge thanks to the support of our partners, the City of Salem, Creative Salem, the Dejas, the Gathering, LEAP for Education, and Salem YMCA.

LAUNCH! will be a great way to ring in the New Year with your entire family at a reasonable hour, and then still be able to go to other parties later (with grandma or aunt Jane watching the kids).

Plus, it’s early enough that you can make a lot of noise and the neighbors won’t mind.

Raising A Glass to the PEM/PM Party

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Dec 142014

How many parties have you been to already this holiday season? Office party. Friend party. Family party. There is one more on your calendar— “Raise A Glass,” the theme for this month’s PEM/PM event, 6-9 pm, Dec. 18th.

This is an evening at the Peabody Essex Museum dedicated to the art of mixology; you get a fantastic opportunity to learn ways to impress your guests (you are going to be hosting a party yourself at some point this year or next, aren’t you?) with unique and traditional punch recipes demonstrated by local mixologists.

For example, which drinks should be shaken and which stirred? Or, what makes a great toast? To be entertained and educated is the continuing theme of these PEM/PM late night events, held on the third Thursday of every month. The museum is open until 9pm as well.

Also on tap for “Raise A Glass” will be comic stories of feasting and drinking by Jason Wilson, author of Boozehound, and Molly Birnbaum, author of Season to Taste, presented by The Tannery Series.

PEM’s first Maker-in-Residence will be on hand with a lesson about wearable technology and festive 3-D-printed designs. Consider distinguishing your wine glass with a design you personally create that night.

Entertainment and mood will be set by the sounds of smooth jazz by local trumpeter and New England Conservatory professor Peter Kenagy and his trio. There will be a cash bar and special small plate items from the Hawthorne Hotel.

Free admission to Salem residents and museum members; $10 for non members at the door. For more info go to the museum website or call 978-745-9500.

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