Lakeport >> For the first time in years, those hankering for a Victorian Christmas won’t have to travel outside of the county to find it. Because the Main Street Association is hosting a Dickens Christmas Market today in downtown Lakeport, where local crafters, artists and vendors will be out selling their wares, instructors will be teaching dances, Santa will be available for picture opportunities, My Divas will be performing and of course there will be plenty of period costumes. And the public is not encouraged to dress up for the fun of it, but there will be prizes for best costume in three categories: men, women and children.
“It’s a very family oriented event,” said Main Street Association Executive Director Panette Talia. “We hope everybody will come out, rain or shine.”
The all-day event will have arts and craft activities for children, plus a little theater showing cartoons where kids can be entertained while parents shop. There will also be a snowman contest between five classrooms. The snowmen obviously won’t be built out of frozen water falling from the sky, but constructed from whatever the kids desire. The public will have the chance to cast their votes for their favorite snowmen.
But the Dickens Christmas Market isn’t leaving the adults out — a booth serving food and drinks, including peppermint schnapps, wont be far away.
The Dickens Christmas Market isn’t a brand new event to Lakeport. Those who were around more than five years ago may remember the 70-plus booths lining Main Street, the Christmas merriment and the Victorian charm of the event when it was hosted by the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.
Although the affair was popular, it was a difficult undertaking for volunteers and it fell to the wayside. Just this year the city asked the Main Street Association if they’d be willing to bring the day back. They happily obliged.
“We’re going to try and reenact the Dickens Fair like it used to be,” said Association President Barbara Breunig. “It used to be a wonderful event so that’s why we decided to bring it back and make more activities and more things here for people to do on Main Street rather than leave town.”
The Main Street Association knows it will be a few years before they get the event back to where it once was, but that’s the goal. With 18 booths lining the streets today, they have a good jumping off point, and they only hope to make the Dickens’ Christmas Market bigger and better every year.
“We’re going to put it into action and going to make things work beautifully,” Breunig said.
Today’s event is occurring in the place of the association’s annual A Very Merry Main Street, but the most popular aspects of that day have been included, such as the elf hunt, which sends children scurrying from store to store searching for a little paper elf. Kids who visit all the locations on their list are entered for a drawing to win prizes.
And the Dickens Christmas Market will be a good opportunity to get some holiday shopping done while also supporting local businesses and craftspeople.
The event will take place from 11 a.m. -6 p.m. today on Main St. in Lakeport. Santa will be on hand for photo ops until 3 p.m. and a tree lighting will occur at 5:30 p.m.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
