Small
city in the
Roanoke Valley of
Virginia just west of
Roanoke itself, and virtually
indistinguishable from that city now. Both cities are surrounded by
Roanoke County, and Salem only broke free of Roanoke County in the 1980s. (In Virginia,
independent cities are not part of their surrounding counties.)
The number one local activity is Salem High School football. SHS is one of the top VHSL Group AA powers in the state. There's a General Electric plant, and a local minor league baseball team, the Salem Avalanche. Aside from baseball, HS football and the occasional small concert tour that finds its way to Salem Civic Center, finding any decent entertainment basically requires going to Roanoke or Blacksburg.