I have been seeing a lot of drama online about parking. Specifically, angry tourists in the comments sections of locals posting videos of tourists getting their cars towed. Accusations on both sides flying; tourists in the comments claiming to feel “unwelcome” while citing the all too familiar masshole trope. There is also of course, the whole “ we should be grateful” for the tourism” crap. I have to admit, I do not remember it being quite this unbearable when I was a kid about a decade ago. When you are born and grow up in Salem, you never really understand how “special” it is. In elementary school, I remember having no homework the night of the annual Halloween parade most years.
Halloween was a month long event. That was just what it was. A chunk of our downtown (known as the pedestrian mall), is still surfaced with cobblestones that make it uneven and difficult to traverse on a normal day walking to or back from the car after the farmers market we visited after attending Summer Library programing every Thursday in the summer. In the fall, this same strip was ground zero for tourism, street vendors, and a notorious public restroom famously situated in the witch city mall.
I do remember once going to downtown Salem with my parents as a kid a couple days before Halloween. That year I was dressed as a witch. I am still a witch, but the kind that prefer plants and seeds over a broomstick, and floral prints and tie dye over black. I remember being caught in a swarm of so many people that we physically could not move. The noise and energy frequency was wayyy to much, and I have avoided the downtown area during the Halloween season ever since. This year, for the first time since I started at WPI; I am home for the spooky season (medical leave; long/unrelated story), and my best friend wants to go downtown. I am not sure what to expect, but I am hoping that being more aware of my neurodivergent nervous system will allow me to approach it in a way that allows me to enjoy the vibe. This will be the first time in my life that I approach Salem from the perspective that the rest of the world does, and I decided that in light of that; I wanted to share with the world the perceptive that I have as a lifelong Salem resident. Some of this is adapted from the comments I made to people on the TikTok video that inspired this post.
I can and will go out of my way to help a tourist in need. In the summer I work at a local business here in Salem, (not a place that gets much benefit from the Halloween tourism). I LOVE sharing tips and insider advice with people who are visiting and passionate! I will info dump on where to eat, what to see and what to avoid. This said, this is the place where I grew up. The parks that people litter in are the playgrounds where I spent my afternoons as a child. The common that you all flood is where every Thanksgiving break, my brother and I would watch our local fire department help Santa down from the roof of the Hawthorne hotel. The schools you pay to park at are the elementary schools that we went to for six years of our childhood. Salem is my HOME. It is not disneyworld. Locals are not cast members. We are not paid to put up with the traffic, crowds, road closures and noise. In fact, it is the reverse. Our tax dollars are used to clean up messes that are left. We love sharing our home with respectful visitors. But we are proud of our home and we will not tolerate guests who disrespect it.
