Photograph courtesy of Raymond Van Tassel/Red Barn Productions
and used with permission.
by Noella Noelophile™
“Owe, cahmon, doan’t be bloody pahrty-poopahs!” insisted a woman in a poke bonnet and a perfect Cockney accent.
Her persuasive talents won out. The reluctant celebrants joined her in a spirited reel on the dance floor at Fezziwig’s Warehouse–and went on to waltz of their own volition.
This moment from the 1978 Great Dickens Christmas Fair–this reporter’s introduction to this unique celebration–remains a favorite memory of my first Christmas in San Francisco.
At San Francisco’s Cow Palace, that long-ago afternoon, Living History Society members in full Victorian costume recreated conversations and sang songs that might well have reached Dickens’ ears as he worked out the plot of A Christmas Carol. There were short plays, crafts of all kinds, Victorian games and excellent food (the mulled cider and gingerbread were favorites!).
Fast-forward to 2012. Not only is the Great Dickens Christmas Fair going strong, thirty-four years later–it’s added new features to celebrate the bicentennial of Charles Dickens’ birth!
2012 Fairgoers can now see a Victorian sideshow in Richardson’s Empire of Wonders…watch a performance at the new “Christmas Carol” environmental theatre…and enjoy brand-new sweets called “Confounding Confections”! According to the Great Dickens Fair’s website, these are all-natural vegan, gluten-free Christmas candies.
On a Scrooge-ish budget? The Fair does offer print-at-home discount tickets until December 5th!
The 2012 Great Dickens Christmas Fair opens Thanksgiving Friday, November 23rd, at 10:00 a.m., and runs for five weekends, through Sunday, December 23rd.