Imagine a whimsical place where every night is Christmas Eve — there are carolers singing in the streets, and you could waltz, fence, drink and sing to your heart’s content.
Check your “humbugs” at the door, because here your dream becomes reality. This is the 36th Annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Victorian Holiday Party, which began Nov. 22 this year and runs every weekend until Dec. 21 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
The Christmas fair is like an 1800s postcard come to life. If you stay for long enough, the hoop skirts, corsets and top hats will feel like second nature.
Guests are immediately welcomed to the festivities at Fezziwig’s Warehouse dance hall with musicians and characters representing all of Charles Dickens’ works telling their stories. Afterward, interested parties can start off with a dance, or they are set free to enjoy the many wonders of the fair.
While the fair has been hosted at the Cow Palace for as long as many can remember, it has moved around San Francisco and some other cities in its time.
“Dickens was originally at Pier 45,” said Warren Nordendahl, also known as Father Christmas in Sutter Creek and Nevada City and a member of St. Ive’s Guild from the Black Point Renfaire. “The year after the Loma Prieta earthquake [in 1990], the Cow Palace was unusable, so we relocated to the Sacramento Cal Expo building. The sprinkler system froze over and went off. It turned the whole place into an ice rink!”
His wife Dorothy remembers that year as well. “It was raining inside!” she said. “Must have been in 1991 or ’92.”
Warren also explained that in 1996, “The Rock” with Sean Connery was being filmed at Alcatraz, and the Pier was blocked off, forcing the fair-goers to leave the building to see the sights. “Kind of lost the spirit when you had to go outside,” he said.
Thankfully, there were no such incidents this time around. The 120,000 square feet are jam-packed with attractions this year. There are taverns, tarot readers, art workshops for children, pewter smiths, sailor’s sea chanteys performed by the Paddy West School of Seamanship, vintage books, carnival-style game booths, hot roasted chestnuts, tea shops, corset shops and haberdasheries, mock science displays, puppet plays, hand-painted eggs, can-can dances and even a naughty French postcard show for those patrons ages 18 and up.
That doesn’t begin to scrape the surface — you can’t possibly see and do everything at Dickens in one day, so the only choice is to take in as much as you can.
Rumor has it that if you come across one of the chimney sweeps, he may just give you a gift if you ask nicely enough.
Whether you sit down for a play at the theatre or you see one acted out in front of you in the streets and alleyways, the fair is always awake and full of life as you find yourself pulled into the plots of classic Dickens literature with characters such as Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley performing before your eyes.
Aside from the restaurants and craft shops, there is also a telegraph service and a functional newspaper print shop.
“I’m a scurrilous editor of the Bulletin newspaper,” said Don Cox, one of the employees at the Elite Printing Company who goes by the penname “Justin Case.”
“Yellow journalism here,” he said proudly.
He is one of those responsible for running The Bulletin, a paper that started in the 1980s, and prints every weekend of the fair while often satirizing events about other actors from the Dickens universe, staying within their character roles.
“When we published the story about Fezziwig’s daughters, I got six death threats!” Cox said. “That’s how you know you’re doing something right.”
The Bulletin focuses on maintaining a period-appropriate format, writing articles about characters around the fair and incorporating humor into their writing. They even have ads for real shops and short serial stories.
Their humble shop contains the equipment needed for letterpress printing on-site, including a functional press, movable type, lead and slug rack and a “space case.”
The employees of the printing company demonstrate at the fair, but off-season they take the equipment home and run the print shop out of a garage. “It’s set up more as a hobby,” Cox said. He motioned to the portrait of the man the employees simply called Sully, one of the founders and employees who passed away in 2008. “[Sully] is a printer who became interested in the history,” he added.
Cox has also has a good amount of fair experience. “The first time I visited and worked [at Dickens Fair] was in 1982 at the Fox Oakland Theater,” he said. He, like Father Christmas, was also present for the ice debacle. “The Sacramento location was only one time, and it was nicknamed the ‘Freezer Fair.’ It was below freezing, day and night. There were huge stalactites in the information booth.” After workers eagerly brought in a heater, it quickly became a health hazard as pipes began to fall from the brand new building, forty feet in the air.
Cox remarked on his earlier memories about a warehouse in San Francisco in the early days. “I heard they had a London Bridge arching over it that you can walk on, things that are too grand for today’s safety standards,” he said.
The crew prints on-site, but to them the work is more than just a way to pass the time.
“This is how we spend five weeks here with our extended family and friends,” Cox said. “We spend the day in London, Christmas Eve in Dickens’ Christmas Carol. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.”
Bulletin employee Texx Woodworth added his two cents. “There’s a number of us who go into a natural depression this time of year,” he said. “The days are shorter and darker. Being able to concentrate on Dickens Fair keeps us focused on one thing. I’d say there are a significant number of people for whom Dickens keeps them from jumping off a bridge, myself included.”
Many vendors and craftsmen have worked at Dickens for years. However, new businesses and stalls crop up from time to time.
Stephen Joynes of Fiddles N’ Such is working there for his second year. He’s managed to turn his passion into a business. “I did a lot of music festivals first,” he said. “I’ve been going for 30 years as a player, and I was getting bored. I started a hobby of restoring violins 30 or 35 years ago, and I had too many. I was a carpenter and a fiddle player, and the two went hand-in-hand.”
His shop is covered wall-to-wall in instruments, including fiddles, banjos, guitars, harps and accordions, as well as accessories like violin bows and conductor’s batons.
“[Business] is off to a good start, and it’s early yet,” Joynes said. “I was encouraged because of last year. I was told that first-year vendors don’t usually make a profit, but I did.”
After coming back to work again, he has not regretted his decision. “I think I’ve worked hard all my life as a contractor, and this is my payback,” he said. “I feel like I’ve run away and joined the circus. I love doing this.”
Ron and Phyllis Patterson, the original founders and directors of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire at Black Point in Marin, started Dickens Fair in 1970. Both of the creators have passed on within the last five years, but their memories live on in each incarnation of the fair. Red Barn Productions helps to run the proceedings. Their son Brian continues to perform in the “Punch and Judy” puppet play each year.
Dickens Fair is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday until Dec. 21, at the Cow Palace on 2600 Geneva Ave. Tickets are $30 each for those ages 13 and up on the final two weekends, $12 for children ages 5–12, and free for those under 5. Alternatively, one can procure a season pass for $90. Parking costs $10. For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.dickensfair.com, including “Participant Costume Guidelines” if you’d like to dress up.
The catchphrase of Dickens Fair is “Happy Christmas!” Celebrate this Christmas Eve and eat, drink and be happy.
