CHRISTMAS PRESENT: 14th annual Dickens festival brings in visitors ‘from all over’
Christmas wreaths and candy treats. Petting zoos and ghostly “boos.” Costumed faces and full retail spaces.
These were among a number of things found at the 14th annual “It’s a Dickens Christmas, Y’all” event held in downtown Tuscumbia on Dec. 14.
Visitors from across Alabama and even out of state came to take in the holiday cheer and wares offered by Christmas vendors and downtown merchants.
The Dickens festival included people dressed in costume, including some dressed up as characters from “A Christmas Carol” by namesake Charles Dickens, as well as carriage rides and fun for the whole family.
The festival is sponsored by Tuscumbia Retail Development, which runs Fiddledee D.
“This year’s Dickens festival went great,” said May Woodie Christopher, president of TRD. “We had people from all over in attendance, including Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi. Turnout was good, and all the merchants were pleased.”
Christopher said one of the core reasons they host Dickens is to help bring customers into local businesses during the holiday shopping season.
“Some of them told me it was the best day they had in a long time,” she said. “That’s why we put vendors in the tent instead of down the street. We want people to go into our local businesses.”
It has become a running joke with locals that it will always rain on or near the Dickens festival. For the past two years, the rain held off until the evening after the major events were done.
“All in all, the event was fantastic, and the good Lord looked after us on the weather,” Christopher said. “Everybody there seemed happy. You could see a smile on all the faces. There is no way to judge which year is the ‘biggest,’ but I do know we had a big crowd, and people started coming in before the festival even started.”
