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Friday Slide Show: Dickens Fair
10 December 2021
A generous nephew (we know no other kind) took us to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in early December 2012. We were just getting acquainted with the Olympus E-PL1 and its 14-42mm kit lens, so we brought it along.
Perhaps it's the pandemic, but our mind wandered back to that stormy evening, the windows of the Honda CRX so fogged and the streets so dark, we wondered how we were going to get us safely from Highway 101 to the parking lot.
But we did.
The Warriors were playing the Chicago Bulls in the Cow Palace proper so parking for the Fair in the exhibition hall was in a separate lot. We beached the Honda and set off in a light rain for the fair. Our nephew's company had rented the Fair its lighting equipment so he had gotten a few free tickets.
Inside the Fair, you are free to wander the streets of an old English town whose shops and booths are done up in vintage style with everyone in them in period costume and many of the people walking around in costume, too. English accents were flying around with like mad bees as well.
We wandered around, took in a show tune or two and had a drink at the Three Cripples Pub. We watched candles being made and spent some time in a letterpress shop. And had fun pretending we weren't stuck in a storm in Daly City.
It has always been a fond memory.
In this era, gathering at indoor fairs is not a great idea so the Dickens Fair has not been held either last year or this. But the Dickens Fair can be enjoyed for free at home. "A free online experience that treats fans of the Dickens Fair to a variety of holiday delights, from lively favorite shows to cozy fireside readings and seasonal Victorian recipes," the site notes.
Here's the Coventry Carolers singing Wordsworth's I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, just to get you in the mood:
Weekend One's links are all active (ah, that Cinnamon Almonds Recipe) and Weekend Two is next. And, of course, you can shop the Fair online, too.
