46 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} DICKENS FAIR ye olde london words by JOHANNA HARLOW lot and you enter Victoria Station. You can even ride a steam train this year!” But what’s a world without people? A small army of actors populate the fair, portraying all strata of society from sooty chimney sweeps to the regal Queen Victoria. Beyond riffraff and royalty, visitors encounter characters fresh off the pages of Charles Dickens’ novels. You’ll find plucky Tiny Tim and scowling Scrooge—and get to interact with them, too. The immersive nature of the experience means that visitors are also players on this 143,000foot stage. “It’s a two-way street,” says Kevin. “The audience comes in and Keen on visiting Victorian London, but can’t afford the plane ticket or the time machine? Not a problem. Traveling back to the era of toshers, telegraphs and top hats is only a short drive away. At The Great Dickens Christmas Fair— an entire little London erected within Daly City’s Cow Palace each winter—you’ll discover seven “neighborhoods” of lamplit shops, eateries, pubs, music halls and theaters to explore. In celebration of the fair’s 40th anniversary, it’s expanded to include an upper hall. That “allows us to transition from the 21st century to the 19th century of the fair,” says executive producer Kevin Patterson, who oversees the event alongside his wife Leslie. “So you get out of your horseless carriage in the parking PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: DENISE LAMOTT adds their piece.” In fact, it’s often difficult to discern actor from attendee since quite a few diehards come dressed in full Victorian regalia. Kevin doesn’t hesitate to name his favorite character at the fair: “The Spirit of Christmas Present,” from A Christmas Carol. “He reminds me of both Falstaff and Bacchus. He is the embodiment of conviviality!” Both his parents embodied this spirit in spades. Kevin was born to “ambitious theater people,” Ron and Phyllis, who not only founded the Dickens Fair, but also produced the first Renaissance fair in the U.S. They “were actively attempting to recreate history, but doing it with a wink,” Kevin describes. Both had big personalities. Phyllis gleefully answered to the role of “Chief
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