Dickens on Centre Street

Dickens on Centre Street

Fernandina Beach, Florida is the biggest city on Amelia Island and seems to offer one festival after another.  There’s the Concours d’Elegance (March 5-8, 2020), and the Shrimp Festival (May 1-3, 2020) and then comes the  Christmas season.  For a week, the historic city of Fernandina Beach goes literary and steps back into the time of Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870), the most celebrated novelist of the Victorian Age. 

During the week of Dickens on Centre Street, costumed characters stroll the sidewalks and streets blocked off for pedestrians.  Vendors are often costumed, too, selling everything imaginable.  I learned first hand that with a slight chill in the air, hot chocolate is a wonderful warmer!

As night descended, you suddenly passed with men in top hats and beards and ladies in hoop skirts.  It really was like stepping back in time.

And it’s not just Dickens’ characters and not just Victorian!  I saw a beautiful Mary Poppins and a soot-faced chimney sweep, Bert, carrying a ladder.  We all remember the Disney film, staring Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke, but did you know Pamela Lyndon Travers (1899-1996) wrote dozens of Mary Poppins books?

It was all there on Centre Street!  And a snow bearded Santa Claus.  And musical entertainment that along with the booths of goodies and enticements, stretched down street after street, almost to the harbor.  Picture the romance of darkly silhouetted shrimp boats, framed by an orange sky. 

Fernandina Beach is a beautiful little city unblemished by time and still as gracious as any city in the south.  The old brick buildings and tall clapboard mansions stand proudly.  The Dickens on Centre Street festival is a wonderful, yearly accompaniment. 

 As you may know, Dickens is remembered for such titles as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and especially this time of year for his famous novella, A Christmas Carol.  Who hasn’t heard of Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit , Ebenezer Scrooge, and of course the ghosts of the past, present, and future!

Charles John Huffam Dickens

Some things you may not know about Charles Dickens:  He left school to go to work when his father was sent to debtors prison, so he never had a formal education.  Nevertheless, he published 15 novels and several novellas. Most of his novels were serialized in weekly, or monthly publications.  When he got comments from readers, he frequently made changes before the next serialized chapter came out.

Yes, he was a writer of the genius variety and would have felt right at home in Fernandina Beach during his namesake week.