Salem Halloween Kicks Off With Grand Parade, Closed Roads Thursday

SALEM, MA — The Salem Halloween Haunted Happenings Grand Parade is back on the move.

A year after the parade became a stationary "Wicked Walkabout" — and two years after it was canceled altogether — out of COVID-19 concerns, the parade will return to the traditional route on Thursday night.

The Grand Parade begins at the Shetland Office Park at 6:30 p.m. and encompasses Congress Street, Derby Street, Central Street, Front Street, Washington Street, the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, Washington Square West and the Salem Common.

While the return of the Grand Parade will bring festive sights and sounds of the season — considered the official kickoff of Salem Halloween — it will also bring extensive road closures and no parking zones on Thursday.

Roads along the parade route will be closed to traffic and drivers can anticipate traffic delays on Route 114 and Route 1A.

Route 1A from Derby Street to Brown Street will be closed to traffic from 6 to 9 p.m. Congress Street, Washington Street, Essex Street from Washington to Union, Central Street, Front Street and Washington Square West, North and South will also be closed.

There will be no parking along the parade route from 5 to 9 p.m. Any vehicle parked in these areas will be towed.

Vehicles parked in the South Harbor Garage will not be able to leave until about 9 p.m. once the parade starts.

The Museum Place Garage entrance will only be accessible from Church Street or St. Peter Street. Vehicles exiting the Museum Place Garage will only be able to take a left onto Brown Street and a right onto St. Peter Street.

A full list of Halloween-related weekend and event parking restrictions and road closures can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)