One problem with halloween in good old Salem, Ma these days, is the number of people who really don't care about the holiday, coming into town to drink and cause problems. It used to be that the city was filled with a lot of cool people, all checking out each others costumes, getting some pictures and enjoying the different events, stores and tourist attractions (the witch museum, the pirate museum the different wax museums and such). Now there are a LOT of drunken jerks in no costumes who wander around, molest the women, pick fights with random passers and generally get the cops very irritated. I saw many fights this year, and never have in the past. It's gotten so bad that at the end of the night, cops in full riot gear march down the street in a skirmish line and scream at people to get moving. Before they used to just slowly ride horses and motorcycles down the main streets and announce that "Halloween is over, please clear the streets". Stupid people ruin the fun for a lot of hardworking blue collar stiffs who just want to relax one night in town, and show off a costume they worked hard on.
This is why I now look forward more to my halloween party, rather than halloween proper every year.