Free Salem Municipal Garage, Public Lot, Meter Parking This Weekend

SALEM, MA — Drivers who come to Salem this weekend will be able to save the typical parking fees and perhaps put them toward the start of their holiday shopping in the city.

For the 12th annual Small Business Saturday, all parking meters, municipal parking garages and city parking lots will be free from Friday through Sunday.

"As the holiday season approaches, I hope all Salem residents will shop local first and support our small businesses," Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said. "I am pleased to once again participate in Small Business Saturday and celebrate our local small businesses throughout Salem."

Small Business Saturday began in 2010 as a way to encourage shoppers to patronize independently owned and downtown businesses in between the mall and big-box store crunch of Black Friday and the online push of Cyber Monday.

Waiving parking fees are one way Salem is looking to encourage North Shore residents to frequent the Witch City's downtown shops, as well as independently-owned restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and breweries.

(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.)