Salem packs in visitors in possible record-breaking weekend
SALEM - Police in Salem said they were able to get a better handle on crowds this weekend despite having one of their busiest days ever.
"Our gut sense of things is that this was amongst the busiest days we have ever had." Chief Lucas Miller of the Salem Police Department was among those city leaders this past week to ask the public to consider public transportation to get into the city.
Last weekend, crowds reached over 100,000 people on Saturday alone, but it was the number of cars flooding the streets that brought Salem to a standstill.
"I think we were fortunate that people heeded our advice and took public transportation rather than driving their cars," said Chief Miller.
Do not be mistaken, the streets of Salem were packed on Saturday.
Folks flew in from all over the country to take in a slice of October in America's favorite Halloween town.
Kella Scharpen flew in from Cannon Falls, Minnesota, with her two childhood best friends for a bucket list trip.
"We were definitely a little overwhelmed when we came out earlier today, but I mean, we were expecting it. We were expecting a lot of people," Scharpen said. "We are just living the dream."
Bali Kaur lives in Woburn but went to school at Salem State University and said it just seems to get busier every year.
"It's so wild," said Kaur. "There are so many people, and you are just trying to get away from everyone."
Katie Berg was visiting from Connecticut and said she expected worse.
"It was definitely easy to walk around," said Berg. "At times, there was some weaving that needed to be done, but it was decent."
Police said they are focusing their attention on next weekend. Halloween falls on a Monday, but they expect the busiest crowd of the year to come on Saturday.
