by Noella Noelophile®
Just eighteen more days until Christmas Eve, 1850.
And all you have to do is enjoy, as the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Victorian Holiday Party opens for five weekends, in the Bay Area.
Technically, the Dickens Fair, is a live immersive-theatre experience. But to anyone who’s attended, it’s so much more.
Billed as “a Victorian Christmas card come to life”, this is a festival incorporating crafts vendors, performances, a dance party, games and food–all set in Charles Dickens’ Victorian London. It’s also a particularly beloved Bay Area Christmas tradition, started in 1970 by Ron and Phyllis Patterson.
Strolling down the main concourse of what’s normally the Cow Palace, in Daly City, you’ll be transported to a lamplit street in Dickensian London. Scents of roasting chestnuts and pine will fill the air. Cockney accents will mingle with the Queen’s English–as you overhear conversations that could very well have happened in Dickens’ day.
And you’ll get to experience all kinds of performances–from family-oriented to the slightly risque offerings of Mad Sal’s Alehouse. Seven stages, for entertainment, will showcase everything from Victorian melodrama to children’s plays and can-can dancers. There’s also a brand-new show: Mad Sal’s Music Hall Review!
Your fellow attendees will certainly include some of Dickens’ characters–along with the illustrious author himself. More than 750 characters from Dickensian England will be in attendance, according to a recent press release.
Among the illustrious guests will be Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, escorted by her beloved Prince Albert–and leading off the dancing at Fezziwig’s dance party.
But beware–Fagin is on the docks, schooling urchins in his craft: picking pockets!
There will be plenty of activities for the children, too. Among them: the opportunity to make their own fairy houses, create hand-painted Christmas ornaments, or ride on a hand-powered Victorian carousel. And they may just get a chance to tell Father Christmas what’s on their gift list!
Our absolute favorites, from the Dickens Fair, include the talented artisans (of course), some of the onsite performances (we’re total softies for those excerpts from A Christmas Carol!) and, of course, the dances of the day at Fezziwig’s party.
And even Scrooge might be tempted to make merry when faced with some of the great food onsite! Traditional English high tea happens every day at the Dickens Fair, but we particularly loved the warm gingerbread and excellent vegetarian tacos we found.
OK, OK–so maybe the great Mr. Dickens never had vegetarian tacos. (Poor man.) Can we say “best of Christmas 1850 and 2016″ here?