by Noella Noelophile®
(Graphic courtesy of Great Dickens Christmas Fair.)
Did you ever wish you could just step into Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?
Well, your chance to do that–even multiple times!–is coming up, faster than the dancers whirling across Fezziwig’s floor.
In just under two weeks, the thirty-sixth annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Holiday Party will transport San Franciscans back in time to Victorian London, for five weekends.
What I remember best about this, is that it’s magical.
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair effectively re-creates the London of Dickens’ day. Daly City’s three-acre-plus Cow Palace gets transformed into a series of lantern-lit winding lanes, with tearooms, pubs, shops and a grand Music Hall. Even the London dock will be re-created.
But now, as then, the people are what make it special.
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
Visitors to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair may very well find themselves walking alongside Mr. Micawber, or a chimneysweep, a London bobby or even Queen Victoria herself. Carolers will be singing the songs of the day, including some you’ve probably never heard before. More than seven hundred fifty actors will be there, in costume, bringing Victorian London to life with authentic accents and costumes.
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
The authenticity continues with the food and entertainment.
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
For the adults, there’s Mad Sal’s Alehouse, a boisterous Victorian dockside dance hall. Or, there’s a mildly naughty “Saucy French Postcard Tableaux Revue” at the Victoria and Albert Bijou Music Hall. (Warning: if you go to this show, it’s free with your admission, but you must request tickets upon arrival, and they go quickly!)
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
Meanwhile, the younger guests might like to create their own Fairy Houses, in the Fairy House Activity area. Or, they can: ride a hand-powered Adventure Carousel, see a Punch and Judy puppet show, learn to tie knots at the Paddy West School of Seamanship, or craft their own Christmas gifts. They’ll also enjoy the parades, which include a Father Christmas Parade, Toy Parade and the Queen’s Royal Procession. And rumor has it that they might even get to meet Mr. Charles Dickens, himself!
(Photograph courtesy of Rich Yee, and used with permission.)
The unique, handcrafted gifts, from onsite artisans, are also something special. Pewter, wood, ceramics, jewelry and clothing are all listed among the vendors’ offerings for this year. (I still have the handcrafted tin unicorn cooky cutter I bought, many years ago at my first Dickens Christmas Fair!)
Photograph courtesy of Raymond Van Tassel/Red Barn Productions and used with permission.
The food? Well–diets are kind of “humbuggy” anyway, don’t you agree? Think goose, plum pudding, hot meat pies, mulled cider and scones, Ambrosia truffles…and other tempting things that would be enough to make Scrooge give up on gruel, once and for all.
This year’s Great Dickens Christmas Fair strikes a poignant note. Dickens Fair co-founder Phyllis Patterson passed away in May of this year. She and her husband, Ron Patterson, founded the Dickens Fair in 1970, with the goal of educating attendees on Dickensian London in an entertaining way. (Ron passed away in 2011.) So, the 2014 Dickens Fair will be a tribute to Phyllis, as the Patterson family continues the beloved tradition.
What a great way to be remembered.
The thirty-sixth annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair comes to the Cow Palace, 2600 Geneva Avenue, near Calgary Street in Daly City, for five weekends, November 22nd through December 21st. Print-at-home discount tickets are available for the first three weeks. There’s also a “Twilight Special” for tickets purchased after 4 pm at the Box Office. You are encouraged, but certainly not required, to come in Victorian costume; here are both guidelines and some resources, courtesy of the Dickens Christmas Fair.