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The SCENE Magazine

42nd Annual Dickens On The Strand Festival

Nov 11, 2015 04:52PM ● By SCENE MAGAZINE STAFF
December 4, 5 & 6 on Galveston Island

Brush off your bowlers and prepare your petticoats as Galveston Historical Foundation presents the 42nd annual Dickens on The Strand. Held December 4, 5 & 6, the 2015 festival is a holiday tradition with great family programming, including newly created events specifically for youth. This year’s festival begins Friday, December 4 with free admission from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and continues Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, December 6, from 12 to 6 p.m. Tickets purchased before December 4 are $13 for adults and $7 for youth ages 7-12. Tickets purchased at the gate are $15 for adults and $9 for youth. Discounted tickets for GHF members are available for $10 in advance or $12 at the gate. Tickets are available online at www.dickensonthestrand.org, by calling, 409-765-7834 or at all area Randall’s stores beginning November 1. Attendees in Victorian costume are admitted for $8.

“Dickens on The Strand continues to be one of the nation’s great holiday festivals,” states GHF Executive Director, Dwayne Jones.“There is something about the entertainment, the costumes, and the feel of Dickens that starts the holiday season off right. You will not want to miss this year’s special focus on Dickens’ enduring children’s characters.”

The annual holiday street festival, based on 19th-century Victorian London, features parades, non-stop entertainment on six stages, strolling carolers, roving musicians, bagpipers, jugglers and a host of other entertainers. Costumed vendors peddle their wares from street stalls and rolling carts laden with holiday food and drink, Victorian-inspired crafts, clothing, jewelry, holiday decorations and gift items.

Two descendants of Charles Dickens will once again grace the festival as GHF welcomes Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Dickens, and Jane Dickens Monk, great-great- granddaughter. Both women will be at numerous events throughout the weekend.

"I always enjoy Dickens on the Strand and this year we'll be doing even more events,” says Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. “I'm happy that we'll be placing greater emphasis on including children at the festival in 2015 and in encouraging them to write. I'm looking forward to seeing if my great great great grandfather is able to inspire any budding Texan writers of the future.”

Jane Dickens Monk continues, “I’m thrilled to be part of Dickens on The Strand this year, with more emphasis on children which my great-great-grandfather would have approved of. I'm also looking forward to seeing old and new faces at the brilliant breakfast and to kick start the weekend at Fezziwig’s Friday night!”