The Dickens Festival in Riverside

The festival has a NEW MARKETPLACE DIRECTOR & therefore, there will be LOTS of NEW VENDORS and more Food for 2016 ! Free admission to stroll around —so — «why not?» Live Theatre, brilliant costumes, Tea time, a TAVERN with DRINKS STRONGER THAN TEA (& Can-​Can Dancers!) Family friendly but secretly «naughty» round the corners —- a little something for everyone.

Free admission to stroll around and view all the vendors, selling victorian (&“steampunk”)themed goods for sale. Tempting treats to eat ! Hair braiding is new to the «victorian marketplace «this year — so come by BAWDY BRAIDS for a french braided hairstyle complete with rose decorations ! Also new is Madera Cup Co.‘s wood mugs for drinking ! You know — Adult Drinks — at «the Tavern» ! There are also many small dramas & shows throughout the day that cost a small fee. Very reasonable prices for quality“live theatre» !
I think it will be fun to CAMP NEARBY at Rancho Jarupa park and enjoy the Riverside Dickens Festival all weekend ! CHEERS !

This is a really awesome throwback festival that we just happened to be in town for! It’s pretty stellar to see so many people walking around all decked out in this old fashion attire, it’s really like walking through a time warp and getting an idea of what it would have been like to live back then. We saw dances, musicians, vendors, and so much more.
If you are in the area during this event or planning on coming around this time be sure and check out this great event.
We also saw actors giving soliloquies of which my favorite was Poe.

I have never been to this festival and decided to check it out. It was neat to see all the old time clothes and musicians around the festival. I wish though that they sold more foods from that era. I wanted to try the afternoon tea but you needed to buy tickets on-​line. Maybe next year I will experience the afternoon tea.

This year was better than the last. Despite trading out some of the actors portraying the authors, they still put together a solid event that’s still FREE to the public.
I feel I should first remark on how impressed I was with the gentleman playing Mark Twain this year. After his presentation on «A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court» he opened the floor to questions, a ballsy move at an event like this. Right away he was inundated with the «experts» who opened with, «I’ve been to your house in Connecticut, why don’t you tell us about it,» to which he not only described the home in question in detail (including the library’s hand-​carved mantle with a fireplace imported from India), but he humanized it speaking lovingly of his Livie and the girls reading and sewing in the parlor. He ducked no questions, no matter how much people tried to stump him, and beamed when my friend and I asked him about his relationship with Mr. Tesla. He closed on a poignant note, speaking on writing Eve’s portion of «The Diaries of Adam and Eve» after his wife, Olivia, had passed away drawing his inspiration for the first woman from her. The man nearly wept.
After which we sat through their Edgar Allan Poe perform a dramatic retelling of «The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.» I was skeptical that I’d enjoy it, but wow. the guy actually hams it up pretty nicely and does this amazingly eerie voice for the M. Valdemar when he’s in suspended animation. He captured Poe so well.
Following that was a debate between Mark Twain and H.G. Wells on time travel. It wasn’t so much a debate as the moderator asking them how it applies in their books «A Connecticut Yankee» and «The Time Machine,» respectively.
I’m pleased to report there were far fewer fascinators this year. In the past, you’d see women donning miniature top hats all over. This year, they seemed to have been replaced with goggles. Ah, steampunk. Its diffusion was inevitable. More vendors were dealing in gears, goggles, kraken and octopus brooches, and Dr. Who than I’d ever seen before, foregoing selling items closer to historical accuracy and pushing for more anachronism. But that’s OK. I like it.
But back to speak of the vendor room — or London Marketplace as it’s called — as a whole, it seemed like there were more dealers this year and I felt it was a wise decision to put a Victorian music stage in their area so it adds to the ambiance. OK, so they are hosting in a convention center. While I do miss when the festival were outside on Mission Inn Avenue, with the tarps and such, since there’s been a threat of rain each year (and the wind *was* pretty strong this year), it’s a cozier gathering with more rooms and sections all in one building.
There appeared to be only two food booths this year, dealing in ice cream and kettle corn, outside of the convention center’s concession stand. Honestly, that’s OK too. I prefer wandering into the downtown, old town area to grab a bite.
The degree of detail put into the people’s costumes could rival any Renaissance faire, where anachronism is more rampant, and thankfully no one at Dickens Fest mocks your own lack of accuracy or costume.
We couldn’t stop laughing in Oliver’s Alley — the children’s area — when we overheard this storytelling group singing the tale of Sweeney Todd to a group of kids. I think I remember there being a comical part about a bird pecking out a hanged man’s eyes, and amusingly the kids looked so indifferent while the parents smirked uneasily. These are some hearty kids. Are the workhouses laboring them too hard?
Still, I thoroughly recommend watching the Gordon Highlanders drill and firing demonstration. Men in kilts… firing off a Gatling gun. You MUST see this.

02÷10÷10 I tried to write an update but it would not let me so here is my update! I was talking to a gal yesterday about Dickens and of the book that I read in high school vaguely recalling some details and she knew exactly what Dickens book it was. «Great Expectations» This festival had faux criminals lurking the the area that reminded me of the Dickens novel I read in school. (read on)
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My friend and I managed to do a photo shoot in Riverside recently and I heard some of the models talking about a Dickens Festival. So, after we wrapped the photo shoot up my friend and I drove into the historic area of downtown Riverside in search of food and a vintage boutique shops. We ended up smack dab in the middle of the Victorian era. We found ourselves in the midst of the final day of the Dickens Festival.
Basically it’s a bunch of people dressed up and I mean really dressed up to the T in the Victorian Era. Tons of big tall hats, large women wearing large puffy dresses that were beautiful detailed and wigs tons of big hair sans the «Bump It». This is the Dickens Festival so of course there had to be those dressed up in the «Christmas Carol» characters. Did I mention that they all take on a British accent? They even had the Queens court that you could take photos with (ours to follow) Everything from cannons, weapons, live music, to horse drawn buggy rides. Even the Goth’s were out dressed in what seriously maybe there every day dark garb. I know it was mine in high school lace and black long dresses. It all hit me then a book that I read in high school that this festival reminded me off other than Dickens material and Emily Dickinson poetry but I want to say «The Benefactor» not sure if that is the correct name but after I saw that «Dickens» era criminal looking bum playing the banjo and singing on the corner I recalled that book that I had to read in English. What is the name, Now, it is eating me!
The festival apparently takes place annually in the Downtown Riverside area near The Mission. It’s a cute area and would I come back… Possibly not. It seemed more fun for those in character. It was to them what the Renaissance Fair is to the renaissance fans. They also had booths yielding food and jewelry. We literally lasted no more than forty minutes before we were ready to go.