For all press inquires, please contact:
Adrienne Biggs, Biggs Publicity
(415) 453-4474 | adrienne@biggspublicity.com

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Celebrate the Holidays in Victorian London -
in San Francisco!

Bay Area tradition is a jolly good time for the entire family

31st GREAT DICKENS CHRISTMAS FAIR RETURNS TO THE COW PALACE IN SAN FRANCISCO, WEEKENDS FROM FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 THROUGH SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 11AM -7PM

September 8, 2009 (SAN FRANCISCO, CA) - The thirty-first anniversary celebration of The Great Dickens Christmas Fair kicks off the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 27, for four weekends through Sunday, December 20, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. This "fantastically fun" annual tradition is perhaps the most elaborate and quintessentially "old-fashioned" Christmas event anywhere... and it happens ONLY in the San Francisco Bay Area! Attendance surpassed expectations in 2008, and 2009 predicts 30,000 visitors drawn in by new shows this year including productions of The Three Musketeers presented by the Albion School of Defense, Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, and a classic Christmas Pantomime entitled "Aladdin & Cinderella Meet the Monkey King."

Fortuitously timed with the release of Disney's 3-D motion picture event, A Christmas Carol (directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carrey as Scrooge), our Fair invites all ages to discover the characters of Charles Dickens' London close-up and personal in a boisterous and  authentically recreated Victorian atmosphere featuring more than 700 costumed players, colorful characters from literature and history, six stages, and winding lanes filled with theaters, shoppes, pubs, and delicious fare. 100,000 square feet of exhibition halls transforms into a Victorian Christmas card come to life. This uniquely San Francisco tradition is the holiday party that generations of families have enjoyed for more than three decades. An opportunity to applaud, carouse, dance, and mingle makes the Great Dickens Christmas Fair unlike any other event in the world.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair offers a variety of toothsome treats and delectable dishes to tempt all palates. Feast on Victorian holiday delights like hot roasted chestnuts served in a paper cone, Meyer's rum cakes, or Mrs. Bumble's Sugar Plums. Enjoy hot English "bangers" sausages, fish and chips, and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. Then raise a toast with a refreshing glass of champagne, cider, hot chocolate, hot buttered rum, or a pint of stout or ale from one of five authentic English pubs offered on site.

The Yuletide season is traditionally a time for kids to delight in special activities, games and gifts - and the Great Dickens Christmas Fair offers an enchanting alternative to the usual holiday events. Theatrical delights abound for guests both young and "young at heart." For the little ones, there's Old Father Christmas, a hand-powered Carousel, Punch & Judy puppet shows, plus the chance to meet characters from A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and the great Charles Dickens himself. Kids can try their hand at being "printer's devils" at an actual 1860s printing press, learn to tie intricate knots and sing sea chanteys with the Paddy West sailors along the dock, or create their own holiday gifts like rolled beeswax candles and miniature wreaths. Children can also visit Pirates' Cove down by the dock or learn to play darts at the Cat 'n Bull Dart and Gaming Parlour.

All ages will enjoy the uptown sensation of the Metropolitan Music Hall, La Legion Fantastique, and Mad Sal's Dockside Alehouse where patrons can join in singing rowdy favorites or watch the bold high-kicking ladies take to the stage for a wicked Can-Can Bijou! The Great Dickens Christmas Fair presents an enchanting alternative to the typical commercial fare of the season.

For adults, the immensely popular, roguish production of the "Saucy French Postcard Tableaux Review  - or the Secret Life of Mr. & Mrs. Horatio Everard, Esq." with all new tableaux vivants is a highlight of the Fair and returns for the fifth year in a row at the Victoria & Albert Theatre. Enjoy a glimpse of the inner reveries of a stalwart Englishman, and view the very flower of English Womanhood in bloom - a risqué exhibition of unadorned beauty! This immensely popular nighttime entertainment is sure to beguile and delight the adults in the audience (age 18 and up).

And who can resist the opportunity to visit the shops of London in search of that perfect holiday gift? Bid farewell to the frenetic shopping malls of the current century to revel in a wonderland of holiday merriment and good cheer. One-of-a-kind artisan treasures, Victorian reproductions, fine art, romantic clothing, handsome pewterware, and dazzling jewelry and accessories are offered by over 100 vendors, many of whom return year after year to sell their wares at the Fair. A day's adventure at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair is bound to satisfy the appetite, kindle the imagination, and welcome the Season in style.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair is directed each year by three generations of the Patterson family, who created and produced the original Renaissance Faire at Black Point and Stafford Lake in Marin County for more than three decades.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair opens Friday, November 27 and runs weekends through Sunday, December 20, from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm. Tickets are $10 for children ages 5 - 11  (under 5 are free); $19 for students/seniors/military; and adults are $22 at the door. Discount tickets are available online at dickensfair.com. Group rates are available for parties of 15 or more. For more information and discount tickets, call (800) 510-1558 x 114 or visit www.dickensfair.com.

Digital images, media passes, promotional ticket giveaways
and interviews are available by contacting Adrienne Biggs,
Adrienne@biggspublicity.com, 415-453-4474.