Teen Review: The Dickens Fair by Claire Henry

/ Cow Palace/

Don’t miss The Dickens Fair!
Open from 10 AM to 7 PM, Saturdays and Sundays now through Dec. 23, 2018. 

If I had to describe The Dickens Fair in one word it would be: Interactive. From the minute you walk up to the entrance to your departure, the characters there are welcoming and hilarious. The mood is set very heavily from the start where when you walk up to the entrance you’re greeted by English soldiers barking amusing orders at you.

Once you’re inside, the place is decked out with multiple sets of scenes on every square inch. The attention to detail really got me. There are diverse characters in every subsection and the whole place is packed with things to do. There are shops, shows, dances, games, and food which are all themed to the time period.

There is even a shop where you can write a telegram and send it to someone in the fair along with a rose or candy cane. A telegram boy will then take your telegram and go throughout the fair yelling “TELEGRAM FOR (person’s name)”. Then find the person and read the telegram out loud to them. That’s just one of the wacky things to watch.

I would definitely dress up for this because without including guests there are 800 workers dressed as types of people from this time period. Such as low life’s and elegant ladies and gentlemen. The food is also themed greatly. An American chef who participated and succeeded in a national English meat pie cooking competition had a booth there selling meat pies. They were scrumptious, the best I’ve ever had. 

Visit London - at the historic Cow Palace Exhibition Halls! Enter the winding lanes of Victorian London and immerse yourself in a world of music halls, theatres, pubs, dance parties, and charming shops overflowing with hand-made holiday treasures. Enticing aromas of roasted chestnuts and hearty foods fill the air. Discover holiday revelry in this lamp-lit city brimming with over 800 lively and colorful characters from the imagination of Charles Dickens, the pages of history, and the sometimes saucy world of the Victorian stage.