You’ve probably heard the old line “in fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” However, did you know that this line is actually part of an entire poem by Ramon Montaigne? I’m willing to wager, unless you actually read the entire poem when you were learning about Christopher Columbus in elementary school, that you probably heard the first line of the poem somewhere but knew nothing about the rest of it. In fact, even though we celebrate Columbus Day every year around this time, most people don’t really know what we’re celebrating beyond the fact that Columbus got hopelessly lost and, like most of us, didn’t want to admit that he never reached his actual destination. Yet, regardless of why we celebrate the holiday, this weekend is a three-day weekend throughout most of the United States and, if you are in the Salem area this weekend, it is a great time to enjoy some more of the city’s Halloween festivities.
First, if you really wanted to go to the Bizarre Bazaar last weekend, but you missed it, you’re in luck because the Salem Open Market begins today. This market, while not as big as the Bizarre Bazaar, will give the opportunity to purchase artwork, clothing, jewelry, and more from over 50 different vendors every weekend until Halloween. For more information on the Salem Open Market, please visit the Official Salem Open Market website.
Secondly, if you’re looking for something more frightening than an empty wallet (well…potentially more frightening), you may want to check out the House of the Seven Gables. The House of the Seven Gables is currently offering two different Halloween themed performances. The first performance, entitled “Legacy of the Hanging Judge”, is the story of the Salem Witch Trials from the perspective of the famous author Nathaniel Hawthorne who not only wrote the Crucible but was also a direct descendant of the infamous judge that presided over the witch trials, Judge John Hathorne (the “w” in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s name was actually added to distance his family from the judge’s madness.) The second performance, entitled “Spirits of the Gables”, is the story of the House of the Seven Gables as told by the ghosts of some of the novel’s characters, but these characters are still haunting the house that originally inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write the story. For more information on both performances, please visit the House of the Seven Gables October Performances page.
Finally, if you’re looking for something that is not frightening and/or Halloween-related, you can always head over to Topsfield Fair. Topsfield Fair, which runs until this Monday (October 13, 2014), is an agricultural fair that features artwork, contests, crafts, farm animals, flowers, food, a large number of vendors, special performances, and a whole lot more. You may even have the chance to see one of the world’s largest pumpkins! For more information on the Topsfield Fair, please visit the Topsfield Fair website.
Photo credit: Foter / Public Domain Mark 1.0