54th Annual Salem Heritage Days Begins August 1st

Mayor Kimberley Driscoll today announced this year’s Heritage Days schedule of events which begin on Saturday, August 1st and continue through Sunday, August 9th. 

Mayor Driscoll stated, “Another week of fun filled activities are in store for this annual tradition.
I want to thank all the event managers that have worked so hard to bring almost forty different activities to choose from during Heritage Days this year.” 

Heritage Days kicks off this year with the 27th Annual Salem Maritime Festival at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on Derby Wharf from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The 27th Salem Maritime Festival will host an exciting array of free family fun festivities, including free harbor cruises, traditional craft demonstrations, and children's activities. Come cruise, sail, paddle, and row through four centuries of Salem maritime history. Explore the Friendship of Salem and visiting vessels.  It doesn’t stop there folks, there are also three different events happening at the Willows on Saturday.  Be entertained by the Bridgin G.A.P.S. concert with performances ranging from local and non-local recording artists, live bands, dance groups, poets and other performance beginning at noon and running until 6:00 p.m. The Firemen’s Muster takes place at 12:30 p.m. where crews will compete to throw the longest stream of water with an antique hand pumped fire engine.  Clown Day will be also be happening from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. where clowns will be on hand all day to make balloon figures for your children, get their face painted and let them be entertained by a special performance at 2:30pm.

New this year is the City and the Salem Moose Family Center joining forces to combine Sunday’s August 2nd tour-a-truck event with Public Safety Day that usually happens in September.  Along with all of the kids’ big truck favorites, there will be some music and many new things to do and see.  The Ladies of the Moose will be donating 50 bike helmets to be fitted by the Salem Police Department (first come first serve).

Also new this year, something a bit different, Sail Salem will be hosting the 2015 Optimist New England Championship Sailing Regatta at Winter Island with over 400 young sailors from around the country. Although you may only catch a glimpse of the races from Waikiki Beach or the Willows Pier, the best view will be on spectator boats, so think about booking passage. (for rates and reservations go to Sea-Shuttle.com or www.MahiCruises.com. For more information about the Regatta go to www.sailsalem.org

Don’t worry, all your favorites are packed into the schedule:  Salem’s Best Pizza Contest, the Salem Community Concert Band; the Ice Scream Bowl; Kids Night on the Common, the Essex Street Fair and the 14th Annual Phillips House Antique Car Meet to name a few.

During Heritage Week there are also four activities just for Salem Seniors: an ice cream social; a barbecue; a wellness fair and a dinner dance.

For our residents, Salem is the perfect place for your STAY-CATION.  Spend a day being a tourist and take advantage of the generosity of our tourist related business community. Many are free to Salem residents all year long like the Peabody Essex Museum, the Salem Witch Museum, the Salem Trolley (June-September), and the House of the Seven Gables.  The Witch House will be free to Salem residents during Heritage week and Pioneer Village will be free to residents on Saturday August 1st. The Salem Ferry always has discounts for residents and during Heritage Days the Sea Shuttle, Mahi Mahi Cruises and the Schooner Fame are offering discounts for residents.

As part of the celebration, the City of Salem will double the merchant one-hour validation stamps at both garages, so spend a little bit longer enjoying downtown (some restrictions do apply).

CLICK HERE FOR SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Some Trash Etiquette

With several new people having moved into the building recently, we thought it might be a good idea to go over some basic dumpster etiquette.
When disposing of cardboard boxes in the recycling bins, please take them apart and break them down as much as possible. Please don't do this:

Also, when throwing your bags of trash into the dumpster, please make sure that they go INSIDE the dumpster. Do not throw them on top, beside or in front of the dumpster. The dumpster looked like this recently, even though there was plenty of room in the back half of the dumpster.

 We ended up with trash all over the surrounding area.

This is always an issue, but especially during the summer months, when stray trash attracts all kinds of vermin such as flies, rats and even fat squirrels. (As well as smelling and looking bad).

Another issue is the disposal of large furniture or other trash items . We recently had this to contend with this discarded toilet.

The dumpster is not intended for construction debris, or large furniture items. If an item doesn't fit in the dumpster, you need to make your own arrangements to dispose of it.
If you are having work done on your unit, you must make sure your plumber or carpenter will dispose of these kinds of items off-site.
The new trash disposal service is not required to take these kinds of items, and if you leave them we run the risk of not having our regular trash picked up.
If you place an item of this kind out by the dumpster, it requires Markwood to hire someone other than our regular trash service to dispose of it, which costs extra money. The more money we take from the operating budget, (i.e. your condo fee) to haul this crap away, the less we have for other expenses and repairs.

Your cooperation is much appreciated.