SALEM — A modified version of the Salem’s So Sweet Valentines Day celebration is in progress, featuring ice sculptures, chocolates and promotions from local businesses in the downtown.
The event, organized by Salem Main Streets and the Salem Chamber of Commerce, began February 1 and will last until February 14.
“We’re very happy to be able to support all of our downtown businesses. It has been a very difficult year for them because many of them rely on tourism,” said Jeff Schwartz, the assistant director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
“An event like this— that will draw out locals in a way that is safe, that is responsible, and that encourages shopping and patronizing restaurants — is a great way to activate the downtown.”The chocolate and wine tasting event that is usually a part of the weekend has been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, being replaced by individual promotions offered by businesses.
“We pivoted the idea of it, because we still wanted to have the local retailers involved,” said Schwartz. “So instead of having a large tasting event, we left it up to each individual to come up with their own promotion.”
Among many other deals from local businesses, Bella Verona on Essex Street is offering a discounted three-course dinner and a chocolate roll, while the recently relocated Jolie Tea Company, now on 316 Derby St., will offer 10 percent off online orders with the code RABBIT.
The festival is celebrated over two weekends — the “Sweet” weekend and the “Heat” weekend.
Seventeen ice sculptures were revealed and lit up for the “Sweet” weekend this Saturday in front of businesses throughout the city, and they included an owl, a gingerbread house, a rocking horse, and a Hello Kitty phone.
“A couple of the sculptures did get damaged from the heat and the sun,” said Schwartz. “But it was a beautiful day and ultimately that did draw the people out there.”
Schwartz estimated that thousands of people came out on Saturday and that there were waits to enter certain shops and restaurants.
The upcoming “Heat” weekend will feature warming stations at three locations in downtown Salem, by the Bewitched Statue, on the Salem Common and at Charlotte Forten Park (the new park next to Notch Brewery on Derby Street).
Love Letters to Salem will also pop up around the downtown this weekend, including a Love Letter Treasure Hunt, in which participants can seek out letters fragments sent between Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne hidden in windows around the downtown.
They can then submit the completed text to win a prize.
Many local businesses will offer chocolate specials and discounts around downtown Salem for the duration of the festival.
A map and more information is available online at salemsosweet.com.
Salem’s So Sweet is sponsored by Goldberg Properties, Groom Construction, the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Five, St. Jean’s Credit Union, and Winer Bros. Hardware, with support from Destination Salem, Retonica, Scarlet Letter Press, and the Creative Collective.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
