As December rolls in, feelings of magic and good cheer wash over us and our loved ones. The Holidays are here so let the festivities begin! Every year my husband and I take our daughter to a handful of happenings that get us into the holiday spirit and create lasting memories for our little family! One of our most favorite traditions is attending the Port Jefferson Charles Dickens Festival!
As a family we cherish this festival because it’s teaming with fun while at the same time allowing you to delve into literary history. Children and adults alike can learn about the distinguished author Charles Dickens, witness one of his most acclaimed works - A Christmas Carol - spring off the page and come to life throughout port Jeff Village. You can learn about daily life during the period when the book was written as well as learning about the history of Port Jefferson Village.
It's so immersive and spans the entire downtown Village of Port Jefferson. The festival is brimming with activities, performances, demonstrations, treats and delights for all ages. There really is something for everyone and the festival never fails to put us in the holiday spirit, reminding us of the importance of love, generosity and kindness.
We also love the sense of community pride and unity this festival inspires. The festival is organized, and run annually by the Village of Port Jefferson and everything is done by local vendors and community members from the local cast of street actors (auditions are held in the community annually and are open to all fyi), to the festival of trees at the Village hall, to the community gingerbread competition at one of the local churches, to the local dance schools that perform to the free public library and historical society that opens their doors for fun activities, to marshmallow roasting in the square, to the local musicians and choirs that perform throughout the day, to the local church that offers a Victorian high tea, to local small businesses and restaurants offering respite from the cold, themed meals and holiday shopping.
Best of all, admission is free! The majority of the performances and activities are free as well, though some performances and activities do require separate admission fees and advance reservation such as the local harbor square ballet theater's annual production of the nutcracker or the Maritime Explorium museum's themed activities, the annual Fezziwig Ball, Mrs. Cratchit’s Craft Corner, horse drawn carriage rides, the Victorian High Tea or Danford's Dickens Brunch for example.
2018 marks the festival's 23rd year. The festival takes place every year during the first weekend in December and runs all day Saturday and Sunday with a special lantern dedication ceremony Friday evening, a grand opening parade Saturday morning and a closing puppet parade Sunday evening.
Keep in mind that there is no way to see and do everything that the festival has to offer because it is so huge and there is just so much to see and do. This will be my daughter's 4th time attending (she's almost 4 and she's gone since she was a baby) and I still haven’t seen everything. I highly recommend taking a look at the schedule before you go. Pick and choose what things you want to see and do ahead of time and try to create a little route/itinerary for yourself. This will streamline your experience so you can spend more time having fun and less time roaming.
Our favorite free activities that are great for wee ones include the grand opening parade, Santa's workshop, Tiny Tim’s train displays, the magic show, the festival of trees, and holly jolly dickens Christmas performance. The festival of trees is locates on the 2nd floor of the Village Center and features dozens of beautiful hand decorated trees and Christmas Village displays. The Holly Jolly Dickens Christmas performance is also located at the Village Center and is a 20 minute mini show/skit featuring some dickens era folk sneaking into a holiday ball. The characters sing classic Christmas carols and the kids in the audience can play along on little jingle bells! Tiny Tim's train display features expansive model train displays from local model train enthusiasts and organizations.
I highly recommend roasting marshmallows in the square and seeing the demonstrations in artisans square. Don’t forget local dance troop street performances, the dickens street characters performing skits and singing carols throughout town, as well as the Port Jefferson free public library frozen themed cottage where you can walk through frozen theme decorated rooms, meet and take pictures with the snow sisters themselves!
While not free, we love taking our daughter on the horse drawn carriage ride and to Mrs. Cratchit's Craft Corner. This is located on the 3rd floor in the Village Center. For reasonable prices you and your kiddos can purchase and make a wide selection of cute holiday themed crafts. The horse drawn carriage ride is magical and takes you around the Village in a nice loop that includes main st, dickens ally and east main street.
I cannot stress enough to dress for the weather! While many things are indoors, a large part of the festival including the character actors, carolers, dance troop performances, artisan demonstrations, parade, openong and closing ceremonies etc are outdoors and you will need to walk or take a Port Jefferson jittney shuttle between points of interest. Be prepared to wait on some lines outdoors as well. Lines for the horse drawn carriage ride, frozen themed cottage and Santa's workshop are outside and can be pretty long so allow plenty of time and dress warmly!
Definitely arrive early to allow time to park. This year the festival will be running a Port Jefferson jitney trolley shuttle to/from the LIRR parking lot and other parking lots located farther from downtown. This will allow more people to park and get to the festival comfortably.
Schedule & Map: https://issuu.com/tbrmedia/docs/dickens_111518w
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PortJeffDickensFest/
Have fun and enjoy your holiday season!
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