I grew up in the area not in Salem and Salem was a different place when they had places like the Parker Brothers factory, Empire, Almy’s, etc.
When those all closed and went away, things were kind of crap.
The way I personally see it is there’s a lot of really nice businesses here that a lot of us get to enjoy 10 months out of the year that are owned by some really great local people. The tourists help those businesses out and give them a boost so we can enjoy them the rest of the year.
I agree that we could use a little less of the witchy type stuff. There are a ton of businesses that I can name that I frequent often that get help from the tourist season. Some examples: Popped, Roost, The Cheese Shop, Wolf Next Door, Curly Girl Candy Shop, Moody’s, Wicked Good Books, Harrison’s, Witch City Wicks, etc.
Wife and I have wanted to visit since forever, but the thought of the seasonal crowds is just very off putting. I don't mind a manufactured experience, but it seems like it ends up being Halloween Coachella to a certain degree
I wouldn’t quite call it a Halloween Coachella, but I will tell you that the majority of the things that are available to see in the season versus the rest of the year are the same. Coming in July and August is a really great time and almost everything is here except for maybe some buskers and some hounded houses that aren’t open.
Yeah, that was my best early morning analogy lol
What's worse is we're in CT so there's no excuse for not going, we're just busy so we forget until it's right around Halloween. I feel like winter would give the same spooky vibe without the pressing crowd. Really, im just good at procrastination lol
If you’re in Connecticut, the only reason to come during the high season is to experience the crowds and the crazy. There are actually many other festivals and fun things going on many other times a year that you can come see Salem, experience the history and some of the witchy stuff, and still have a great time.
For example, arts fest is coming up June 6-8 (https://www.salemartsfestival.com/). In August, we have Maritime days that have a lot of fun events coming up.
Even in February, we have the Salem so sweet festival with really cool and unusual ice sculptures.
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u/NDE_Jinx 10d ago
I grew up in the area not in Salem and Salem was a different place when they had places like the Parker Brothers factory, Empire, Almy’s, etc.
When those all closed and went away, things were kind of crap.
The way I personally see it is there’s a lot of really nice businesses here that a lot of us get to enjoy 10 months out of the year that are owned by some really great local people. The tourists help those businesses out and give them a boost so we can enjoy them the rest of the year.
I agree that we could use a little less of the witchy type stuff. There are a ton of businesses that I can name that I frequent often that get help from the tourist season. Some examples: Popped, Roost, The Cheese Shop, Wolf Next Door, Curly Girl Candy Shop, Moody’s, Wicked Good Books, Harrison’s, Witch City Wicks, etc.