We are on the doorstep of the 2019 Salem So Sweet Festival, hosted by Salem Main Streets, and the smells of love, chocolate, and ice sculptures are in the air. This is the time to hold your loved ones tight, get hot chocolate with friends, and enjoy all the wonderful things that the North Shore during Valentine’s Week has to offer.
Here is our 2019 Guide for how you can spend Valentine’s Day (and week!) with Creative Collective.
Ice Sculptures and Special Happenings at Salem’s So Sweet
Salem’s So Sweet is the North Shore’s signature Valentine’s Week event. Now in its 17th year, the festival features ice sculptures throughout the city and special events in stores and restaurants all over Salem. Many downtown businesses will offer chocolate samplings and sweet discounts around downtown Salem all weekend in celebration of Valentine’s Day as part of the Golden Ticket Promotion. Follow Salem’s So Sweet on Facebook for a full list of events and participating businesses.
Valentine’s Day Silent Disco at Bit Bar
Dance the night away to Dance Mix Dreamland’s silent disco at Bit Bar in Salem where you can enjoy 3 stations of music transmitted wirelessly (and noiselessly) to colored LED headset. Don’t like what’s playing? Change the station! Volume too loud? Turn it down! Want to chat with someone? Take off your headsets and it will be nice and quiet and chuckle while you watch everyone dance and sing in virtual silence.
Tickets are $20 online or at the door.
Valentine’s Day Themed Workshops
Workshops at Create and Escape:
Peabody-based DIY workshop gurus Create and Escape are hosting several Valentine’s themed workshops to attend with your BFF’s, family, or significant others. Options include wooden sign making, cookie making/decorating. There’s even a special date night on Valentine’s Day itself.
Check out their full list of workshops here.
Back of the Envelope Love at Ladies Entrance:
Ladies Entrance is offering a one of a kind workshop Friday, February 8th inspired by the story of Raggedy Ann. During this workshop, guests can write love letters to themselves on the back of recycled envelopes and then decorate them with all sorts of upcycled materials.
Valentine’s Events at the Cabot
The Cabot Theatre in downtown Beverly is hosting two great love-themed events this coming week, events you don’t want to miss! The first is a family friendly show featuring Karen K & The Jitterbugs’ Love Fest Saturday, February 9th.
Second, spend the evening of Valentine’s Day with flamenco guitarist Juanito Pascual. 50 VIP tickets will include a glass of champagne and a rose!
Valentine’s Themed Markets and Shopping
Looking for a gift for that special someone? Mill No. 5 in Lowell is hosting their annual Love Buzz Valentine’s Market on Saturday, February 9th from 12 – 5 PM where you can pick up unique crafts, art, and cards from local artists and vendors. You can also stop by the Oceans of Love Valentine’s Market at the Beauport Hotel on Sunday, February 10th from 12-5 PM where in addition to great vendors will be a Champagne tasting, kissing photo booth, hot cocoa bar, and Valentine sweets.
If you’re in the market for something on the darker side, this Valentine’s week Vampfangs is here to remind you that love bites with their custom VDay Fangs by Custom Fangsmith and Artist, DNASH. Come down to Vampfangs from 11 AM to 7 PM Saturday, February 9th to order your custom fangs in time for the big day.
Health and Wellness Self-Care
Valentine’s Day isn’t just about sweets and romance, it’s also about self-love, and there are two great events this upcoming weekend which exist for that very purpose. The first is Rebel Yoga‘s Hair of the Down Dog: Yoga and Namastay for a Drink! Love Stinks. Because sometimes love just stinks. Rebel Yoga is hosting a special anti-Valentine’s Day yoga class on Sunday, February 10th at 11 AM at Deacon Giles. Instead of buying wine and roses, spend time on the mat working out your tension with Rebel Yoga. Click here for tickets.
You can also check out the Sensual Self-Love Workshop Valentines Day Edition at Salty Buddha, where you can root in and really let yourself feel the love flowing from within. Click here to register.
Princess Bride Trivia at the Castle
Love, true love is in the air this week at the Castle Board Game Café with Princess Bride Trivia. Bring a friend, bring a date, bring a group and test your knowledge of this classic tale of inconceivable romance and adventure.
Tables fill up fast, so make sure to get there early!
Valentine’s Day Dinner at Koto + Love u to death Karaoke
This Valentine’s Day, Koto is offering a two for one night of food and entertainment. Start with their special Valentine’s Dinner and stay for love u to death karaoke, presented by Die with Your Boots On, who will be selling special merch in the restaurant while guests sing their hearts out on stage.
Catch a Great Show at One of These Theatres
Valentine’s Day 2019 is a great night for local theatre and three excellent shows will be taking place that night. You can catch Relationships – A Valentines Cabaret at Marblehead Little Theatre. Directed by Bobby Kerrigan with music direction by Thom Smoker, Relationships is a night of music and song that shouldn’t be missed. Click here for tickets.
Another great choice is First Night – A Romantic Comedy at the Larcom. set in a 1980’s video store, this romantic comedy will make you laugh, cheer, and leave you wanting to see it all again. Click here for tickets.
Also opening that night Uncommon Women and Others at Salem State University Theatre, a play about a reunion of five close friends and classmates at Mount Holyoke College. This type of story was unprecedented in the ‘70s and offered a reflection on the cultural transformation around women and their place in society taking place at that time. Click here for tickets.
Salem’s So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Sculpture Festival! Map and more information. For details visit the website for the festival.
Keep the love going with these future events
Moulin Rouge at the Cabot
Creative Collective, Retonica, and Intramersive present the second in a series of enhanced movie experiences where they add immersive elements to movies you know and love creating an all-new experience and appreciation for these timeless films. On February 16th, they will be transporting guests to Moulin Rouge! With live performances, a special pre-film celebration including a photo booth opportunity and special lights and F/X during the film by Retonica event lighting, this is not your typical viewing experience!
Love Letters at the Peabody Black Box
Written by AR Gurney, Love Letters is the much-loved story of a man and a woman whose friendship spans 50 years, during which, despite making different choices and taking different paths, they share a bond that cannot be broken. Love Letters is returning to Peabody for its second year, with showings on Saturday, February 16th and Sunday, February 17th.
