Have you ever wanted to go back in time? In my latest experience for the NBC show “California Live,” I got to experience what life must have been like as a 19th century lass during Christmas time in London. The Charles Dicken’s novel “A Christmas Carol” comes to life in a 6 acre cavernous space called the Cow Palace in the San Francisco Bay Area at the annual Dicken’s Christmas Fair. You can spend an entire day strolling through the fair either shopping for handmade gifts, sipping on some hot cocoa while listening to choirs sing, play old school games, dance a waltz, and replenish with some hand dipped fish and chips or a high tea!
I myself am a sucker for historical costumes, so when they outfitted me in a petticoat and poofy silk dress I felt like I was reinvented into Mary Poppins. Not only that, I had a sidekick, “Jim Chiminey”, who was just like Bert, the chimney sweeper played by Dick Van Dyke in that classic film. I have never acted in my life, but given the costume and enviroment I was easily transported to that time and place. Honestly it was refreshing to escape from the grind of modern day life and take on a whole other fun persona.
The festival welcomes people in costume, and a third of festival goers were not only decked out in 19th century garb, they also sported British accents for a day! At a time when people are immersed in computer screens, I highly recommend you break away from the routine of daily life and attend a holiday fair near you. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, by all means attend this fair, you won’t regret it! For more information, click here: https://dickensfair.com/
To get a flavor of the fair, and see me acting for the first time in a life (note, I am not an actress lol) click on the video below!
