Michael Gutierrez A moment of kitsch at the Moon Over Salem arts and culture fest in 2024.

Moon Over Salem , a marvelous two-day arts and culture fest, returns Sept. 12-13. Just ahead of the spooky season in a spooky city, which is not an unimportant detail.

If you’ve been a Masshole long enough, you’ve had the experience of out-of-state family and friends talking to you about Salem and its most famous historical episode. There’s a short list of Bay State topics that people from elsewhere feel comfortable enough to spitball about with zero preparation.

These topics include …

The Celtics. Uggg. Not this year. Next!

Lobster rolls. Too expensive. Only for tourists (try monkfish instead – the “poor man’s lobster”). Next!

Karen Read. Will this ever end? Next!

That leaves us with the Sa

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