1. The People In Salem Pay It Forward Like Superheroes
Salem is known for people who are nice sometimes even to a fault, but it’s no wonder, considering they have two real-life superheroes to live up to.
Locals Steve Naylor and Jeff Bronson made headline news in 2012 for their humanitarian caped crusading around the city giving out things like food, water, and clean socks to the city's homeless.
Even more superheroes can be found today in Willamette University’s HandsOn volunteer program. The committee takes philanthropy to the next level around the city by promoting causes with an annual Superhero Dash.
2. Everyone In Salem Wears A Suit...
As the capital of Oregon Salem is brimming with most of the state’s politicians, lawyers, and government officials. The people say it’s great because it keeps everyone working, but the surrounding communities say things like, “Yeah, Salem is great. If you like politicians and lawyers.”
Well, the people in Salem do happen to like politicians and lawyers. They’ll also remind everyone that their “suit” jobs are why they can’t protest everything the way their neighbor cities do, with those pesky jobs expecting you to show up every day and all.
3. ...But Everyone Is Still A Little Bit Hipster
Salem might not be as weird as Portland, and hates being ignored in favor of the hipster metropolis, but they’re not above it all. The people definitely have their own quirks and suspiciously hipster ways.
They prefer eating fresh and shopping local, they all keep their own gardens, keep chickens as pets, love their community festivals and events, and have an active biking community that earned them a spot on Bicycling magazine’s list of America’s 50 Most Bike-Friendly Cities.
Face it, Salem. You haven’t escaped the hipster thing completely.
4. People In Salem Are Obsessed With Kettle Chips
If you curse whoever invented those addictively delicious Kettle Chips every time you suddenly find yourself at the bottom of the bag, you’re cursing Salem.
Kettle Chips founder and Salem native Cam Healy was only out to make a good potato chip using all natural ingredients. What he ended up with skyrocketed to the largest natural brand of potato chips in the U.S.
And there’s no getting around it in Salem. Kettle Chips are can be found in every convenience store, grocery store, magazine stand, and kitchen pantry as the one and only favorite snack of locals. Everyone has their own favorite flavor, but everyone agrees there’s nothing quite as sad as an empty bag.
5. Everyone In Salem Would Eat Breakfast For Every Meal
The people in Salem don’t need to be told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They already know. They also know that breakfast just for mornings.
Whether it’s actually breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, Salem restaurants and diners are filled with locals ordering their favorite morning meal. It’s almost like a religion.
They like their biscuits with gravy, their hot chocolate with cinnacakes, their French toast crème bruleed, their plates “full o’ love,” and their pancakes as big as their heads. Be prepared to wait at the most popular destinations, though as everyone in town will probably be there, too.
6. People In Salem Are Olympic-Status Tree-Huggers
Salem often gets reminded how boring of a city it is, and locals usually respond by asking, “But have you seen our trees?”
It’s true, Salem is a slower-paced way of life without much of a night life, but they also have a community full of gorgeous trees that they’re fiercely proud of. So proud that the city has received the Tree City USA award for 37 years in a row.
And the people are so protective of their trees that when a bank downtown district cut down five trees on its property everyone went berserk, with one local business owner getting arrested for confronting the bank’s employees. Don’t. Touch. The. Trees.
7. Everyone In Salem Feels A Little "Jan Brady" About Their City
First Seattle went and changed the face of music. Then Portland had to go and get all famously “weird,” completely screwing Salem in the process.
Salem knows the chances of ever outshining the legacy of Kurt Cobain and the coffee-house, flannel-wearing, grunge scene that followed him, or the popular show “Portlandia,” are slim to none. And that’s fine.
But they’re a little sick of no one ever knowing about Salem when they travel out of state. Except, of course, when they’re getting mistaken for the other Salem.
“Oh, you’re from Salem? Those witch trials were seriously bananas.” Yeah, they were. In Massachusetts.
8. People In Salem Love Their Trailblazing Past
When most people think of Oregon they picture the hippie-style liberalism of Portland and Eugene, like Berkeley sprawled over state lines. But that’s not true in Salem. The people are a hardworking, middle-class, family-oriented community and much more conservative than the surrounding areas.
The Golden Pioneer stands atop the Oregon Capital as the mascot of the city and representing their conservative roots. A giant cardboard cutout of “Sal the Pioneer” even travels around Salem to surprise locals for random photo ops. They really love that guy.
9. Everyone In Salem Knows More About Wine Than You Ever Will
Don’t even presume to tell anyone in Salem what they should drink, because they know way more about it than you do and they’ll make sure to let you know. And rightfully so, as their home is basically the wine country of the non-Napa Northwest.
With the Salem Wine Trail, grape stomping tours, a dozen wineries, and restaurants with wine menus larger than their food menus, wine is a beloved treasure of the city.
Preferences vary widely, of course, and you could wind up in the middle of a pretty heated battle. But in the end, wine is wine, and wine rules in Salem.
10. Everyone In Salem Has A Little Napoleon Dynamite In Them
Probably the most famous Salem native, Jon Heder, aka Napoleon Dynamite, graduated from South Salem High School before going on to be everyone’s favorite lovable loser on screen.
Whether they actually like the movie or not (but it’s only the funniest movie ever made, gosh!), everyone in Salem knows Napoleon Dynamite.
Working in random quotes from the movie is commonplace (much to the chagrin of some who have heard them only a million times), and everyone either has or knows someone who has owned a “Vote For Pedro” shirt or even someone who can do the classic Napoleon dance.
The locals even remark on the striking similarities between South Salem High School and the high school portrayed in the movie...
