SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - The mayor of Salem is urging the public to postpone their Halloween plans until 2021 due the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“If you are considering a visit to Salem this October and you do not have lodging booked or advance tickets or reservations, the city recommends that you postpone your visit until 2021,” Mayor Kimberley Driscoll’s office said in a news release.
Most haunted happening events have already been canceled due to the pandemic and all venues are working with limited occupancy, which created long lines and crowding in places during the first weekend of October, according to the mayor’s office.
Those who are still planning to come to Salem are required to abide by the mandatory mask requirement while downtown, as well as within stores, attractions, and while moving around within restaurants.
“Ordinarily, there is no better place to celebrate haunted happenings and Halloween than in Salem. While we normally welcome visitors from around the globe to our city each fall, this is not a normal October. We want to support our many businesses, but our first priority is keeping residents, employees, and visitors healthy and safe,” Driscoll said in a statement. “Visitors can do their part by planning ahead and following all COVID-19 protocols and health orders. If you have not secured lodging or booked tickets in advance for your stay, you may want to consider saving your visit until 2021, when we hope to be recovered from this pandemic and able to enjoy our full array of unique activities and events.”
In addition to police issuing citations, Driscoll said downtown ambassadors are being deployed to enforce the city’s mask mandate.
The Salem Board of Health has also issued a local travel reporting requirement for visitors traveling from out of state. Anyone staying overnight at a hotel, inn or short-term rental must complete a form that documents their activity in the city.
Salem previously announced that it would not be moving forward with the shift to Phase III, Step II of the state’s four-phase reopening plan.
Gov. Charlie Baker is urging residents to exercise caution if they choose to go trick-or-treating or pass out candy on Halloween. He also denounced the idea of holding large, indoor gatherings.
“Indoor Halloween parties are a really bad idea,” Baker said during a news conference on Tuesday.
Baker said he is not taking executive action to cancel Halloween in Massachusetts because he is fearful of groups of people gathering for big house parties.
“The reason we’re not cancelling Halloween is because that would have turned into thousands of indoor Halloween parties, which would have been a heck of a lot worse for public safety,” Baker said.
Baker usually passes out candy and takes selfies with trick-or-treaters on Halloween but he said he’ll likely refrain from doing that this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)