Tourists flock to Salem for Halloween, history

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October 20, 2008

Tourists flock to Salem for Halloween, history

Amanda McGregor The Salem News Mon Oct 20, 2008, 01:07 AM EDT

SALEM — Salem resident Joe Cole welcomed six uniformed Naval school officers to the Witch City who came up for the day from Connecticut looking for a taste of Salem in October.

Cole pointed them to various sites, including the Friendship, naturally, and they set off down the Essex Street pedestrian mall into the thick crowds of costumed visitors, baby carriages, and food vendors.

A family from Barcelona, Spain, was looking for a good place to eat brunch, and a man from Long Island, N.Y., was eager for his first visit to Salem since a trip with his parents in the late 1960s.

“I remember we have some photos of historic buildings,” said Doug Pappas, of Long Island. “I don’t remember it being this bad,” he said, referring to the dense crowds.

“It’s the perfect time of year to come to Salem,” added his wife, Mary.

The visitors were among hundreds of tourists yesterday morning who passed by the new information kiosk on the pedestrian mall across from Lappin Park. So far this October, more than 6,000 visitors have stopped by the booth, which is open on weekends.

“There are so many people from other countries,” said information booth volunteer Grace Lamarre, a Salem resident. “It’s amazing how many people are looking for restrooms — clean restrooms — and they always want to know where the scary things are.”

The booth is staffed by 40 volunteers, who take two-hour shifts. They received training from the National Park Service, and are at-the-ready with maps, daily schedules of events, and advice.

“They handle between 200 and 500 visitors every two hours,” said Park Ranger Michelle Blees, who oversees the information booth, which is coordinated by Salem Main Streets, the National Park Service, Salem Chamber of Commerce, the City of Salem and Destination Salem.

“I did it last year also and I just like to contribute to Salem,” said Joe Cole, who was volunteering at the booth yesterday morning with his 12-year-old daughter, Paige. “Most people ask, ‘Where is the Witch Museum?’ and they’re looking mostly for witch stuff.”

Lots of people yesterday asked where they could watch the Witch Ride, a charity motorcycle run into Salem, in which 3,000 bikers, some in costumes, rode to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“I met some Japanese tourists and I said, ‘Konichiwa’ to them,” said Cole, who helped them use their map and get situated after conveying the Japanese greeting.

The booth has been open each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and each Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., plus a few other days, according to Breen.

Yesterday morning, Boston resident Tim Canning came to Salem and brought a visitor from California, Danielle Reveal, to see the “bewitching seaport” as it is billed on the city’s tourist Web site, where he got his information prior to coming up.

“I just wanted to check it out,” said Canning, “and get in the Halloween spirit.”

The pair started their day with a visit to the Witch Museum, which they said wasn’t as exciting as they had hoped, but, “It’s a good way to break us into this, though,” he said. Their next stop was going to be the Frankenstein’s Laboratory haunted house and 13 Ghosts.

Friends Stacy Norrell of Taunton and Melissa McGraw of Weymouth visited Salem with their young families yesterday, including daughters Mya, 7, and Olivia, 6, who were dressed as cats. They were looking for child-friendly attractions and planned to visit the Pirate Museum and the children’s festivities on the Salem Common.

“I haven’t been here in years and years and years,” said Norrell. “We just said, ‘Why not? It’s almost Halloween.”

Information booth volunteer Christian Haselgrove said he’s spoken with a lot of visitors from New England, as well as New York and New Jersey.

“A lot of visitors come here and say, ‘We just rolled in from out of town and we don’t know what to do,’” said Haselgrove. Signs are posted at the train station that guide people down Washington Street to the information booth.

“We are very hopeful that we will have as many — if not more — visitors than last year for the month,” said Breen, “(which) would be great since the summer months saw a drop of visitation at the Visitor Center of 8 to 15 percent compared to last year.”

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