'Salem So Sweet' Aims To Bring Businesses Some Valentine's Heat

SALEM, MA — For six years, it was Kylie Sullivan's mission to make the streets of Downtown Salem come alive with bustling businesses, inspiring events and a sense of community where city residents and visitors felt a connection.

For the past 11 months, the executive director of Salem Main Streets has had to shift to designing ways to promote downtown businesses and keep the spirit of the city alive in a safe and socially distanced way.

Sullivan said that is the goal of the 19th annual Salem's So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture experience that this year runs two weeks through Valentine's Day.

This year's modified program includes the return of the popular ice sculptures and tips on the best places to get "sweet" treats during the first week of the event, and some activities that bring the "heat" in the expanded second week — all while promoting the curbside pickup and takeout options of local small businesses.

"Our hope from the Main Streets aspect is this helps us develop best practices on how we can do community initiatives," Sullivan told Patch, "and support the city in a way that is safe and mindful, but also in a way that helps businesses and provides mental health for the community."

For someone whose job it was to get more people together downtown for as long as possible since she joined Salem Main Streets in 2013, the past year has been one of learning, adjusting and collaborating with many people to keep people in the city safe while reminding them "the city is not literally shut down."

"It's been tricky for sure," she allowed. "It's constantly a moving target. Sometimes it's hard for me as a one-person staff to keep up with everything that is happening. Luckily, we have a lot of partnerships."

One of the early "events" Sullivan was able to promote coming out of the spring stay-at-home orders was the farmer's market. Only it had to be a different farmer's market than the one she helped grow in recent years.

"Farmer's market moved out of the downtown, which is itself against my mission," she noted. "You carefully design this farmer's market for years to get people to stay, and spend time, and talk to friends and listen to music. Then this year it was to get in, get what you want and leave."

That there was even a farmer's market, however, was a big benefit to the artisans and local farmers that participated, and a credit to Salem Main Streets and the city for working together on something that was beneficial without violating any state and local virus protocols.

Sullivan said the Salem So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Sculpture endeavor is similar as she worked with the Salem Board of Health to hopefully provide something fun and economically stimulating at a time when the North Shore is starting to show signs of emerging from a late fall and early winter spike in coronavirus cases.

"One thing that's been great is that I can pick up the phone and talk to the health planner and ask the questions," she said. "Does this sound safe? He'll be honest about what is good or maybe not so good. We all want to design something where the city is going to feel safe offering it to people and that helps us design a better program."

Ice sculptures make a perfect feature for the times as those who walk around and admire them can do so in a socially distanced and masked-up way.

The chocolate and wine tastings that have traditionally been a part of past celebrations? Not so much. So they are on hiatus.

But this year, the "heat" week of the program will include a love letter scavenger hunt and outdoor heaters that are meant to warm folks up without attracting a crowd.

"We will monitor them and if we have to call it, we have to call it," she said. "But we feel pretty comfortable with the protocols we have in place."

She said the local businesses have been great to work with since their first priorities are to do business in a way that keeps staff and customers as safe as possible.

"They all realize that the smart way to go is to provide their customers with options," she said. "Businesses that previously didn't do things online are doing that as an option. A lot of our businesses have been very good about pursuing aspects of their business that was maybe secondary before.

"A lot of them have been doing takeout, online sales or appointment-only. Following their lead has made the most sense, so we've tried to promote the things they are already comfortable doing."

Go here for a full list of activities at this year's expanded, two-week Salem So Sweet Ice Sculpture & Chocolate program.

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(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.)