Jacob Marley handing out coins
Similar to the Old Fiddler’s Picnic, the Snowflake Christmas Lights, and The Great Pumpkin Carve, the Dickens Festival offers a wonderful opportunity to join with friends and neighbors to celebrate the season in community fashion.
A Winter’s Tale for Gentlefolk of All Ages
Though the young are often the most wide-eyed and wondrous in their admiration, the Narberth Dickens Festival charms adults and families alike. As multitudes of authentically arrayed characters promenade the thoroughfares, visitors of every generation find themselves drawn from the commonplace world into a living storybook of Dickensian fancy.
Upon arrival — perhaps with a top hat perched just so, or a warm woolen shawl clasped against the winter wind — each guest finds themselves woven seamlessly into the spectacle. Children and grown-ups drift past rows of festival stalls brimming with hand-crafted treasures and sweetmeats; carolers in proper Victorian attire lift harmonious voices upon every corner; dancers and musicians enliven small stages set beneath the cold, cheerful sky. Merchants purvey wooden toys, knitted scarves, candle-glow delights, leather fineries, and countless other wares that would be right at home upon a London market lane of old.
With performances, crafts, music, and hearty fare, the festival is a true assemblage of nostalgia and communal merriment — a place where the holiday spirit may be felt as readily as the winter frost.
Stages, Song, and Street Revelry
A principal delight of the Dickens Festival is its wealth of entertainments. Not confined to a single platform, the amusements unfold across three distinct stages, with the lively strains of musicians and carolers carrying down every street.
Elsewhere, one might perhaps encounter at a small performance corner or impromptu stage musicians who strike up a tune, while in another spot puppeteers or ballet dancers, the melodious Dickens-style caroling troupe the Men of Harmony lifting carols toward the tin-grey sky, or behold the Kingsessing Morris Men capering with the spirited vigor of centuries-old dance.
With such diverse offerings — music, dance, puppets, caroling — the festival ensures there’s always something happening, somewhere, so that wherever you wander, you’ll stumble upon a bit of holiday magic.
Merchants, Savories, and the Bustle of a Victorian Market
To wander the vendor stalls of the Narberth Dickens Festival is to lose oneself in an 1840s marketplace. The booths, arranged along the central avenues, present wares of a most handcrafted and old-world nature: leather goods, stained-glass ornaments, wooden playthings, candles, winter garments, and trinkets fashioned with the care of a bygone age from Dicken’s London.
Foodstuffs abound as well — warm pastries, street snacks, and steaming cups of chocolate served in souvenir mugs. Adults may find solace in a hot toddy or similar warming draught should the cold prove particularly bracing.
Whether seeking a gift for a loved one or simply indulging in a treat whilst strolling beneath lanterns and garlands, visitors find ample opportunity for cheer.
A Dickensian Scavenger Hunt (1 o’Clock to 3 o’Clock)
Among the festival’s most dearly loved traditions is the complimentary scavenger hunt — a delightful pursuit for children, yet no less amusing for grown folk who fancy a spirited challenge. From the first toll of the afternoon hour until three, participants begin their quest with the receipt of a modest tin beggars’ cup.
The charge is simple: collect eight wooden coins, each bestowed for completing a task or seeking out one of the wandering Dickensian figures. When the cup bears all eight, the victor returns to the Hunt Booth to exchange them for a bronze Shilling — a token worth five American dollars, redeemable at any of the festival’s merchants.
This year’s eight Dickens characters — each prepared to bestow a wooden coin upon the worthy seeker — include:
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Mr. Fezziwig, jovial master of mirth and dancing
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Ebenezer Scrooge, sour of spirit and sharp of tongue
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Bob Cratchit, humble clerk with a kindly heart
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Caroline Cratchit, gentle and gracious
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Fred, nephew to Scrooge and ever full of good cheer
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Mrs. Dilber, brisk and businesslike as any London housekeeper
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Jacob Marley, bound in spectral chains and grave of countenance
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Old Joe, purveyor of second-hand goods with a suspicious air
As one wanders, Mr. Fezziwig may cajole passersby into a reel, Scrooge may grumble that scholars ought be in lessons seven days a week, Bob and Caroline Cratchit might share a quiet moment, and Old Joe — ever the peddler — may lurk in some murkey shadowed corner of the street.
While meandering the area, we did convince a couple of characters to allow us to capture “mirror paintings” (that is, self portraits), though Jacob Marley and Old Joe hardly seemed pleased at viewing their own likenesses!
And the hunt isn’t just about spotting characters. There are about a dozen tasks you might complete to earn your wooden nickels, such as the following for this years tasks:
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Singing a Christmas carol.
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Listening to part of a public reading of A Christmas Carol.
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Making a holiday craft at a children’s craft booth (for example at the local summer-camp group’s table).
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Dancing with Mr. Fezziwig.
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Appearing before the “magistrate” near the pub.
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Taking a “self-portrait” with the team at a local café.
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Watching a mini-Nutcracker at the local ballet studio.
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Reciting lines from A Christmas Carol at the children’s poetry theatre.
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Taking a selfie with an ornament at a vendor booth.
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Singing a Christmas Carol in your best British accent at a local music shop.
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Buying or taking a “self-portrait” at a local store named “Nana’s.”
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Taking a turn reading from “A Christmas Carol” at the local bookshop, or getting a treat for your pet at the veterinary-clinic booth, or sampling food from a new local restaurant exhibit.
Lest one thinks this task be daunting and comes without some sort of assistance for ye, they even pass out the local newspaper – The London Fish Wrapper (2025 edition) to guide participants on their merry way.
The variety of tasks — singing, dancing, crafts, selfies, sipping warm drinks — means that everyone can find something enjoyable, whether you’re shy or theatrical, kid or grown-up, observer or participant.
Time, Logistics & the Festival Atmosphere
The Narberth Dickens Festival unfolds across a single winter afternoon — this season from noon until four o’clock.
Map taken from Narberth Dickens Festival webpage
Because it transforms downtown Narberth into a pedestrian-friendly Victorian village, the town’s streets are closed against carriage traffic, rendering them safe and pleasant for wandering multitudes.
Map taken from Narberth Dickens Festival webpage
Parking exists, though it fills swiftly: along the streets (free on Sundays), within commuter lots, and in several public areas near Borough Hall or the railway. As throngs gather and the walkways swell with visitors, the festival takes on a most bustling and animated air — busy, to be sure, yet delightfully so, as though the very soul of Christmas had drawn the crowd together.
A Holiday Visit Worthy of the Past
Few sights delight the heart so quickly as the joy upon a child’s face when first encountering a Dickens character, or the swift turn of dancers in Victorian finery beneath twinkling lights. Adults feel the warmth as well — the glow of lanterns, the scent of savoury treats, the sound of music drifting along a winter wind.
The Narberth Dickens Festival offers charms for every sort: shoppers, singers, wanderers, and revelers. It grants not merely an event but a memory — one steeped in camaraderie and nostalgic wonder.
Arrive with family or friends, or even alone to bask in the merriment, and you shall find yourself — if only for an afternoon — transported to London of old. Don a cloak or a top hat should you wish, for such garments will place you all the more firmly in the magic of the era.
Step forth, dear traveler, from the ordinary world, and into the glow of Christmas past. The Narberth Dickens Festival stands ready to welcome you.
Festival flyer taken from the Narberth online website.