SALEM, Mass. — The Witch City is gearing up for it’s biggest weekend ever. And visitors are loving every minute of it!
“This is fabulous. We live for this. Halloween is our favorite time of year,” said Jennifer Ferris, who comes here every year from upstate New York.
The weekend and month leading up to Halloween, also called Haunted Happenings, is busy all month. So far, nearly three quarters of a million people have visited in October.
“We’ve had hundreds of thousands who’ve already made the trip to Salem and we expect well over a 100k to come in this week alone,” said Kate Fox who is the Executive Director for Destination Salem.
Fox adds that ten to fifteen percent of them come from other countries including two women here from Quebec. “I visit Salem and Happy Halloween,” she said in her heavy French accent.
And witches, you can’t swing your broom without hitting one. They are everywhere. “A lot of Hocus Pocus enthusiasm and just general interest in witches,” said Fox.
The release of Hocus Pocus 2 which is based in Salem is also causing a renewed interest in the Witch City and is drawing a lot more people to visit.
Families and friends are flooding the city’s main thoroughfare Essex Street but Fox says there’s plenty more to see around the city.
“For people who are coming in I like to encourage them to get off Essex Street and explore the streets around the downtown,” she said.
The two witches visiting from Upstate New York agree saying they’ve been coming for the last ten years and it keeps getting better.
“The vibration’s great. And it gets a lot of people. You never know what you’re going to find here,” said Tammy Dapp, who is also visiting from New York.
Upwards of sixty thousand people are expected Friday night and another one hundred thousand on Saturday night.
City officials are reminding people not to drive saying there’s just not enough parking. Instead they say try the commuter rail or even the ferry from Boston. Festivities go right through Halloween night ending with a fireworks show at 10pm on Monday October 31st.
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