Things to do while in Salem…in addition to TEDxSalem

As tick­ets sold and reg­is­tra­tions rolled in, we noticed many out of town atten­dees will be join­ing us at TEDxSalem this year.

As the event begins ear­ly, we antic­i­pate some peo­ple will be join­ing us the day before. Addi­tion­al­ly, we expect some may elect to stay the night after they expe­ri­ence the won­der and inspi­ra­tion of our TEDx event. We hope this is the case, because as much as we love host­ing TEDxSalem, we also love shar­ing our fair city.

So if you are here for an extend­ed stay, here are some ideas to make your week­end one of the most event­ful of the year.

Like live music?
Lev­el B The­ater Pub, 445 High St SE, fea­tures late night live music both Fri­day and Sat­ur­day.
Check out the diverse pop stylings of Wam­pire, Miss Mas­sive Snowflake, Coro­na­tion and Thomas Mudrick 9 p.m. Fri­day. Doors open at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. And at 9 p.m. Sat­ur­day, local band Whisky Nick and the Dusty Bot­tles opens for Boston band Tall Heights. Doors open at 8 p.m. Cost is $7.

Inter­est­ed in art?

The Hal­lie Ford Muse­um of Art, 700 State Street (at the cor­ner of State and Cot­tage streets), fea­tures a num­ber of per­ma­nent gal­leries that reflect the cul­ture and her­itage of the Pacif­ic North­west, in addi­tion to rotat­ing fea­tured exhibits. Right now, “John James Audubon: The Birds of Amer­i­ca” is on dis­play and “A Con­tem­po­rary Bes­tiary” will be open­ing Sat­ur­day. It is open Fri­day 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun­day 1 to 5 p.m. (It is also open Sat­ur­day, but you will be busy, right?!) Cost is $6, $4 for age 55 and old­er; $3 for edu­ca­tor or col­lege stu­dent with school ID.

Look­ing for some­thing cul­tur­al?
Eigh­teen miles north­east of Salem you will find the quaint town of Mt. Angel. This week­end is their annu­al Okto­ber­fest event with live music and enter­tain­ment, plus food and beer galore. Get all the details at their web­site: www.oktoberfest.org 

Or maybe you want some­thing Celtic? Ceili of the Val­ley Society’s Pan Celtic Ceili is hap­pen­ing 8 p.m. Fri­day. It fea­tures Irish, Scot­tish and Bre­ton music by Eugene band D’nA plus ceili (social) danc­ing. There is a les­son offered at the begin­ning of the night, and dances are called, so no expe­ri­ence is nec­es­sary. And it is not required that you bring a part­ner, either. Cost is $10. Doors open at 7 p.m. For infor­ma­tion vis­it: www.ceiliofthevalley.org

Aim­ing for the out­doors?
Salem boasts over 2,200 acres of parks. Of spe­cial inter­est is River­front Park, 200 Water St. NE. It is a 23-acre park locat­ed in down­town Salem right off the Willamette Riv­er. Here you can see the EcoEarth Globe, also called the acid ball. It was orig­i­nal­ly a large tank that held acids used by Boise Cas­cade and has been upcy­cled into pub­lic art. At the park, you can also vis­it Salem’s River­front Carousel, which is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fri­day and Sat­ur­day and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sun­day. Rides are $1.50 per per­son.

At the edge of River­front Park is the Union Street Walk­ing Bridge which spans the Willamette Riv­er. It is a ver­ti­cal lift, Pratt through truss bridge that was built in 1912–1913 which has been con­vert­ed for use by pedes­tri­ans and bicy­cles. It also joins down­town Salem to West Salem.

A sec­ond pedes­tri­an bridge from River­front Park to Minto-Brown Island Park is also under devel­op­ment. Learn more at http://www.cityofsalem.net/mintobridge

Just want to explore?

Talk a walk­ing tour of His­toric down­town Salem. Along the way you will find a vari­ety of eater­ies, gal­leries, and shops.

We hope your vis­it here com­ple­ments your expe­ri­ence at TEDxSalem as thought-pro­vok­ing, inspi­ra­tional and uplift­ing

PS: If you are com­ing from out of town and have not yet made a room reser­va­tion but would like one, we rec­om­mend the Grand Hotel which just hap­pens to be a cou­ple blocks from the TEDxSalem venue! Addi­tion­al­ly, if you are look­ing for more Things to Do, check out the States­man Jour­nal Things to Do page and the Trav­el Salem cal­en­dar.