Dickens Extravaganza

Cape May Jazz Festival

Published on November 04, 2014

On December 19th, 1843 Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol”, changing our perception of Christmas forever.  Since the early 1980s, Cape May has been celebrating the season, the author, and the era with a 3 day festival full of entertaining performances, great feasts, fun tours, wine tasting, receptions and interesting lectures about Dickens, Christmas, and all things Victorian.  Perhaps best of all is the fun group of guests that always attend this event.

The last couple of years have witnessed the revival of this wonderful Cape May tradition, with the return of Elliot Engel, the incredibly entertaining Dickens Scholar who really got it started 30+ years ago.  Believe me when I tell you that Elliot could literally have you laughing hysterically about the phone book if he read it to you.  In 2014 his talented performance partner Quinn Hawkesworth will be returning to Cape May to charm us all as well.  It is shaping up to be the best Dickens Festival ever!

The Dickens festival is also an amazing value.  It is pretty hard to beat 3 days of programming, two dinners*, a wine tasting and a reception for $160 (in addition to your room, of course).  When you combine that with the terrific discounted rates at The Queen Victoria, this festival is by far the best value of the year in Cape May.

* the “Welcome Dinner” on Sunday night at the Merion Inn is a complimentary dinner hosted by The Queen Victoria for participants staying at The Queen Victoria.  It is not technically part of the Festival itself.