Get Festive in Salem in 2016

Salem officially has a festival in every season. With the addition of the highly-anticipated Comedy & Spirits Festival to the January calendar, visitors and locals alike will find something to do throughout the year.

Most known for the annual Haunted Happenings festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, Salem’s annual schedule also includes a wonderful Arts Festival, the annual Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Salem Lit Fest. In addition, the Peabody Essex Museum will continue to bring international art and culture to Salem when they present exhibitions of works by Rodin and Childe Hassam.

For a complete list of events, festivals, exhibits, and programs, please visit the calendar on Salem.org or contact Destination Salem for additional information.

Some of the festival highlights at the beginning of the year include:

First Annual Salem Comedy & Spirits Festival

January 14 - 17
Warm up winter with laughter and spirits at the first annual Salem Comedy & Spirits Festival. Top area comedians and delicious locally-made spirits highlight this weekend celebration.
SalemComedyAndSpiritsFestival.com

Salem So Sweet
February 5 - 7 Chocolate, ice sculptures, and a Golden Ticket take center stage at Salem’s annual Valentine celebration in February. Always a sell-out, the Chocolate & Wine Tasting at Colonial Hall opens the festival on February 5 at Colonial Hall. Ice sculptures - at least a dozen of them - will be installed around Salem on February 6, and the Golden Ticket Raffle will run February 6 - February 7. Downtown businesses will offer promotions, events, tastings, and great shopping throughout the festival.
SalemMainStreets.org, Salem-Chamber.org,Facebook.com/SalemSoSweet

Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age
February 27 - June 5 Amsterdam in the 17th century was a vibrant city with global connections. The largest and most powerful trade and shipping company in the world, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) filled Dutch homes with Asian porcelain, lacquer, sumptuous textiles, diamonds and spices. Inspired by these novel imports, Dutch potters, textile designers and jewelers created works of art we now perceive as distinctly Dutch. Artists such as Rembrandt, Willem Kalf, Jan Steen and Pieter Claesz were also quick to incorporate these luxuries into their paintings. Co-organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, this exhibition of 170 superlative Asian and Dutch works of art explores the transformative impact that Asian luxuries had on Dutch art and life in the 17th century, bringing new perspectives on the Dutch Golden Age and its relationship to Asia. pem.org

Salem Film Fest
March 3 - 10
Come to Salem, see the world during the largest all-documentary festival in New England. Film screenings and talk-backs with the directors are the highlights of the week-long film fest.
SalemFilmFest.com.