SALEM, Mass. — A city known to draw Halloween revelers by the hundreds of thousands is telling people this year to stay away and making plans to keep tourists at bay.

Businesses will close at 8 p.m., on Oct 30 and 31. Commuter trains from Boston will limit service to Salem, and parking garages will close to all but local residents and workers. The steps announced this week aim to thin crowds amid health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In normal years, “a Gillette Stadium’s worth of people will be in Salem’s downtown” for Halloween, Gov. Charlie Baker said at a press conference Wednesday. The Essex Street pedestrian mall “is literally shoulder to shoulder,” he said.

That’s something that can’t happen in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Baker said.

“Our family has been over here a few times during September and October, during the day, on weekends and at night,” said Baker, who lives in neighboring Swampscott. “But a typical Halloween weekend in Salem isn’t manageable with respect to the issues the mayor and her team are talking about today.”

Officials in the Witch City have grappled with larger crowds than expected despite the cancelation of official events and limited capacity at shops, restaurants and tourist attractions.

For weeks, people have raised concerns about what will happen during the usual peak to the Haunted Happenings season — Halloween night.

All things being equal, this year would’ve set records: Halloween falls on a Saturday with a full moon for the first time in 19 years, and during daylight saving time. 

The last time Halloween fell on a Saturday, more than 100,000 revelers showed up.

Mayor Kim Driscoll stressed that it’s unusual to urge people not to come to Salem during Halloween.

“This is just not the year,” she said, “and I really want to send the message that if you’re coming to Salem, come in November.”

Driscoll said most business owners understand the city’s predicament. No one wants to allow certain activities now that could result in long-term closures later.

“It’s about more than October,” she said. “Salem will be there after Halloween.”

October is a usually cash cow for the city’s businesses. For decades the seaport that served as backdrop for the 17th century witch trials has drawn visitors for both its kitsch and its more serious memorials to victims of the hysteria. The peak of local tourism comes during October, and specifically Oct. 31.

That brings the infusion for businesses that makes a drop-off in tourism from November through spring manageable.

At the same time, a strong season under a pandemic increases odds that business owners and their employees are exposed to COVID-19.

“It has been really tough to manage the people coming in here, because they really haven’t been paying much attention to state or city mandates,” said Chris Lohring, owner of Notch Brewery. “So business owners are put in a position of policing mask wearing and social distancing. And there’s a lot of entitlement on the side of the tourists.”

The situation pushed the popular craft brewery to close its tap room Thursday. It won’t reopen until sometime in November, Lohring said.

Employees have faced heaps of abuse from customers, he said, “to the point where it happens so frequently that you lose count.”

“You can only put on a smile for so long,” he said.

Dustin Luca writes for The Salem News. Reach him at DLuca@salemnews.com.