Carlyle's Dickens Village Festival celebrated 15 years of festive fun on Friday, Dec.1 and Saturday, Dec. 2, as the community was once again transformed into a Victorian-era winter wonderland.
This year, the weekend-long celebration not only attracted local and out-of-town visitors from as far away as Toronto; but it also brought cameras from CBC and Access television to the community.
“Dickens continues to get bigger and better,” says Ken King of King's Department Store. “We take our hats off to the many people who work so hard to make this festival the great event that it is.”
Michael Ellis of Michael's Coffee Shop and Bakery in Carlyle agrees.
“Where else can you get together with 1,000 of your friends to celebrate in such a unique way?” says Ellis. “There's something for everyone at Dickens. It's an amazing event.”
The festival featured returning favorites, including: High Tea at the United Church (featuring Irene Doty's collection of 80 hats), the Cornerstone Family and Youth Festival of Trees, a visit from Santa, four English Markets, Tiny Tim's Taste Tour, musical entertainment at Fezziwig's Pub, stew and biscuits courtesy of the Rusty Relics Museum, free horse and carriage rides, food vendors, two lighted parades and sold-out performances from Cornerstone Theatre Group's re-imagining of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol.'
This year's Cornerstone production - 'Carol' - was a musical take on the Scrooge story, set on Wall Street and written by Jesse, Dianne and Samantha Twietmeyer and Clay Johnstone.
New additions to this year's festival included Scrooge's Candy Shop – where kids young and old could visit 'The Grinch' and photo-op cut-out props painted by local artist, Marylin Carter.
Realtor Jade Moore says attending her first Dickens Festival “about three years ago” inspired her to join the Dickens Committee.
“I kept coming back to Dickens and I liked it so much that I decided to join the committee,” says Moore. “It's an amazing event and I'm happy to be a part of it.”
Longtime Dickens committee member Shelley Slykhuis says this year's Dickens was a success, aided by “super weather.”
“The High Tea served about 400 people over two days,” says Slykhuis. “All of our street vendors sold out of food; some quite early. The Chowder Shack sold 280 bowls of soup and the Knights of Columbus sold 319 bowls of chili! Those are just two examples.”
Longtime Dickens volunteer Sandra Robertson says that this year's festival holds special memories for her and many other volunteers.
“This year's photo wall in the hall is a tribute dedicated to Alyce Stockton,” says Robertson of Stockton, a longtime resident of Carlyle and Dickens enthusiast who passed away earler this year. “Alyce lived for Dickens. And she would be so pleased with how it's grown.”
“A community festival is made up of the contributions of many, many people,” says town councillor Jenn Sedor. “The Dickens Committee does fabulous work on their own and many of us from the community are proud to support our hard-working festival committee with this great event.”
“The 15th annual festival is now in the books as a very successful festival as far as weather, attendance and providing a financial boost for the many organizations involved,” says Slykhuis. “We are grateful for everyone who made our 15th festival such a great event.”
Winners of 2017's Dickens Village Festival decorating competition are as follows:
Business:
Victorian: King's Department Store
Traditional: New Dimension Hair Studio
Novelty: Dairy Queen
Residential:
Victorian: Ron and Lois Paul
Traditional: Dennis MacDonald and Connie Young
Novelty: Bill and Lorie Wyatt
Apartment/Condo: Glenn and Marie McConnell
