Salem business owners have a tip for avoiding the October crowds

Each October, tourists ask how to beat the infamous crowds in Salem. Everyone has tricks: Get there early, take public transit, take advantage of weekdays.

But as photos of Essex Street Pedestrian Mall in Salem go viral, complete with pointed witch hats bobbing in huge crowds, plenty of residents and Bostonians alike stay away.

“The locals have a saying,” local brewery owner Chris Lohring told Boston.com, “‘I’ll see you in November.’”

Salem is busy in October, to say the least. Millions of visitors head to the Halloween Capital each year for spooky attractions, historical places, and sometimes kitschy witch activities. So how do you beat the crowds and long lines for restaurants? Some local business owners say it’s simple: get off of Essex Street.

Peak time is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends

Lohring owns and works as head brewer of Notch Brewing, a brewery and taproom on Derby Street in Salem since 2016. He doesn’t dispute the yearly Halloween crowds. Notch has a line between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekends, he said, but other than that, they’re just not that busy.

“Social media has its limitations,” Lohring said. “It’s not the reality for the rest for the city. It’s just not that crowded everywhere. It’s just one little strip of a pedestrian mall, which is always, always crowded, and people always use an example of how crowded Salem is.”

His business is encouraging tourists and locals alike to escape the crowds to Derby Street and Pickering Wharf, which has its own historical sites and a view of the ocean. And once the tourists leave, their weekend nights are slower.

“There’s a lot of day trippers, and the day trippers leave,” Lohring said. “We’ve seen this shift of the amount of customers coming in to a very concentrated period of time, and then there’s nothing.”

After Essex Street, head to Pickering Wharf

Longboards Restaurant & Bar on Pickering Wharf also took to social media to remind customers that the wharf doesn’t get too busy. Co-owner Justin Mattera said while tourists do venture off of Essex Street on weekends, weekdays are slow. 

“On Pickering Wharf, there’s open, free parking everywhere. There’s certainly no lines. There’s no crowds. We definitely get left out of the Halloween madness,” Mattera said.

Even on weekends, Mattera said the three-hour wait for restaurants uptown is more like 10 to 15 minutes near the wharf. Lohring agreed. Both owners also agreed that there’s more to Salem than the pedestrian mall.

“There’s more to the city than just the Halloween aspects, and there’s certainly more to the city than downtown,” Mattera said. “Salem’s waterfront is beautiful. It has such great restaurants and shops.”

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Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.

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