Grassington's Dickensian Christmas Festival

In mid-December, Bill's mom Beverly and her boyfriend Allen came to Yorkshire for a week-long visit. We had a lot of fun with them, especially visiting all of the local Christmas-themed events for the first time. While driving to the small village of Grassington for their annual Dickensian Christmas Festival, we spotted one of the iconic British telephone booths, and had to stop to get a picture. The phone booths are not as prevalent as they once were, and are often devoid of a phone. Some have been repurposed as small art galleries for local artists, village lending libraries, etc. 

Beverly and Allen

I had been warned to arrive in Grassington prior to the 11am Festival's start time, as it is a small village and the festival can get so busy one can hardly walk around. We arrived at 10am, and by the time we were bussed to the village center, we had about 30 minutes before the festival's official start time. Plenty of time to get in trouble with the local law enforcement!  

Busted by Bobbies!

Another Bobbie bust!

Yet another n'er-do-well

We walked around a bit, and then headed back to the beginnings of High Street in order to watch the Dickensian Festival's Opening Parade. I was able to record the parade in its entirety.  (Reminder - This video works using Quicktime. It will work on a laptop, but not on a tablet or phone.) After the parade, Allen asked "Is that it?" and I had to reply "It's a VERY SMALL village!" :-) 

We walked around some more, bought some hot roasted chestnuts, gawked at all of the decorations and dressed-up Dickensian characters. My favorite were the little kids dressed as street urchins with coal rubbed on their faces, running around having fun. Alas, they moved too quickly and I didn't get any photographs. We watched a few minutes of a Punch and Judy show, listened to the town crier and village band, and tried in vain to stay warm. 

Punch and Judy

Trying to get warm!

Almost everyone who dressed in character were happy to have their photograph taken. As the afternoon wore on and the crowds increased, it became more and more difficult to do so. But I did get a few good photographs! 

Town Crier

A very tall Bobbie 

A depressed-looking Dickensian

All in all it was a lot of fun. We left by 12:30 as the clouds were beginning to look ominous and the crowds were getting thicker by the minute. As we were bussed back to the quarry parking lot a few miles away, we saw additional busloads of people being delivered to the festival. I am very glad we took the advice of arriving early, as we were able to see everything and have fun without dealing with the height of the crowds.

Steam punk Dickensians