Salem's So Sweet 2023

 This past weekend was the 21st annual Salem's So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Sculpture Festival in downtown Salem. It's an all weekend event for shopping, sampling, and seeing cool art...literally!

Every year there are 25-30 ice sculptures put up in the downtown area and at night, they're illuminated. I've never seen them lit up because it's February and it's usually cold enough during the day to be out and about walking. Although, this year was pretty comfortable.

There's usually a handful of pop culture related sculptures but this was the only one listed on the map this year. The blue on Mary's face is actually from something in the shop window in the background and not part of the display.

 

Speaking of Halloween related things, you never know who you might bump into on the streets of Salem...even in February!

Sticking with the spooky, here's a skull-headed snowman. The head is a bit difficult to see but it did look pretty great and the scarf just makes the whole thing.

We don't usually go into many of the shops but Maria's Sweet Somethings is always a must visit. You're greeted at the door by someone with a platter of assorted chocolates to sample. I also like that they go all out decorating the store. In the past, they've had a chocolate fountain with all kinds of things to dip in it but they didn't have it this year.

I didn't get any of these heart shaped candies but don't they look amazing?

This dog with a witch hat was definitely one of the more popular sculptures with a short line of people waiting to get their pic taken next to it.

The Salem Witch Museum always has something interesting and this year was no exception. It's hard to see because the ice is starting to get cloudy but there's some beautiful flowers inside the ice. Looking at it head on, it's got a very 3D appearance because it's done in layers.

Here's a view from the side showing off the layers.

That's going to wrap up the guided part of the tour. You can flip through more pics of the sculptures and some other random around town shots below or visit the full album on Flickr. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!