Salem Halloween 2025: How Was Haunted Happenings For Residents This Year?

SALEM, MA — As more than 1 million tourists flocked to the Witch City for this year's Haunted Happenings, the lives of everyday Salem residents were inevitably disrupted.

Now, as preparations for next year's festivities begin, the city is looking for feedback on this year's event and suggestions on ways to improve next year's planning with similar record crowds expected.

The city is asking residents to complete an online survey on everything from the events to public safety to communication on parking restrictions, closed roads and other aspects of the holiday month that formally kicked off with the Grand Parade and ended with Halloween night.

"We incorporate public feedback from our residents into our Halloween and October planning every year," said Mayor Dominick Pangallo, "Haunted Happenings 2025 went generally well, thanks in large part to the input and patience of Salem residents. Each year we look to and value the input from residents to help shape how we prepare and plan for next October. I hope all residents will take a few minutes to complete this year’s survey so we can continue to improve how we manage October in the years ahead."

This year’s resident survey is now live and can be found here.

Residents can also submit written feedback to the Office of Mayor Dominick Pangallo, City Hall, 93 Washington Street, Salem, MA 01970.

The survey will be available online until 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 30.

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