PEABODY — Every October, tens of thousands of ghosts and goblins wind their way through Peabody on their way to Salem’s Haunted Happenings celebration.
One City Councilor said she wants to make sure the city takes advantage of that captive audience that makes its way through Peabody to Salem every fall.
“What I would like to do is … ask the Community Development Department to reach out and work with the (Peabody Area) Chamber of Commerce to look into some partnerships with Salem and the hotels we have here that have been booked up (for October),” said Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning-Martin. “We should see how we can offer shuttle service or parking with shuttle service so that we can tap into those hundreds of thousands of out-of-towners and visitors that are a captive audience in Peabody.”
The shuttle and parking approach used by the Salem Country Club for the U.S. Senior Open earlier this year could be a model for Haunted Happenings, Manning-Martin said.
“It was a boon for many of the local businesses,” she said. “I know that Capone’s on Summit Street did pretty well because there was a drop-off and pick-up station and the shuttle ran from there.”
The U.S. Senior Open brought in about 15,000 spectators daily to the Peabody golf course during the four-day tournament, according to Bill Sheehan, the general chairman of the Open.
Deanne Healey, the CEO of the Peabody Chamber, said the Chamber and Peabody Main Streets have been making strides in capitalizing on the increased tourism on the North Shore during October.
Peabody events and destinations were advertised in several of the publications focusing on the North Shore and Haunted Happenings this year, Healey said. She said the Chamber and Peabody Main Streets will likely continue and increase those advertising opportunities in coming years.
As for other efforts to piggyback on Salem’s tourism, Healey said it could come down to whether the city, the Chamber, or other organizations like Peabody Main Streets takes the lead.
“It really comes down to who has the better opportunity to promote it as time goes on,” Healey said. “At this point, a new initiative would be up for grabs for who could make it happen and could handle the logistics.”
If the city were to consider an October shuttle service between Peabody and Salem, the Chamber CEO said it would have to make sure that Peabody’s businesses would benefit and that it wasn’t just sending tourists to spend their disposable income in Salem.
