The Great Dickens Christmas Fair Missive
Great Dickens Christmas Fair 2020 – November Missive
Notes from your Missive Maven:
In any other year, this would be opening weekend, and I know The Great Dickens Christmas Fair is on all our minds. We miss the great creative camaraderie, the sights, the sounds, the smells…well, most of the smells, anyway. 

Many of us also won’t be able to be with our chosen families for Thanksgiving, but we know that being safe now will mean a healthier winter and a better 2021. As rough as this year has been, there are still things to be thankful for, including virtual get-togethers. If you’d like to add a touch of Dickens magic to your window on the world, enjoy the Fair-themed Zoom backgrounds on the Dickens Fair at Home webpage.

Great wishes for a Thanksgiving filled with warmth, health, and real (if virtual) affection.

Much love from Cat and the ‘Keets
(which probably should be a band name)

Cat


Please remember to contact the folks referenced in each notice below, rather than hitting “reply”. Contact information for various departments can be found at the bottom of the missive.

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Cat Taylor
Entertainment Director & Missive Maven
Thoughts from Mr. Dickens:
“Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. Fill your glass again, with a merry face and contented heart. Our life on it, but your Christmas shall be merry, and your new year a happy one!”

~ A Christmas Dinner by Charles Dickens
In This Missive:
Hiatus Missives
Dickens Fair at Home Begins This Weekend!**
Please Support Our Crafts & Performer Communities
Memorial on December 12 (via Zoom)
Performer Links**
The Living History Centre Fund
Pies, Rum Cakes and Toy Drive - Oh My!**
November DEI Resources from Red Barn Productions**
Reminder for All Participants About Resources for Tough Times

Note: Items especially for children are marked with **.
Hiatus Missives
We intend these Hiatus Missives to provide resources that enhance our connectedness, and our support for each other. We also hope they help us stay healthy, and keep us learning and growing as individuals, as artists, and as a community.

The Dickens Fair at Home project will further these goals in the following ways: 1) supporting our crafts and performer communities during the cancellation of all their annual shows, 2) bringing some Dickens Fair joy into as many homes as possible this holiday, and 3) keeping the Fair present in the hearts of our patrons and our community.

Below you will also find very current resources we have assembled for you with the above goals in mind. We do not want to overload you, so we do our best to keep them short and on point, and provide links for further exploration. If you have items to contribute to future Missives, please let us know. 

With all sorts of regards!

Red Barn Productions
Dickens Fair at Home Begins This Weekend!**
The first reveal of our “gift" to fans of the Dickens Fair everywhere begins tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 21! Enjoy samples of your favorite music, song, recipes, art projects, and craft demonstrations, from the comfort of your parlor! How marvelous that our own, our very, very own Mr. Charles Dickens will be reading his brand-new story, A Christmas Carol,…and in serial form, as it was originally presented. 

Weekend by weekend, more features will be "unwrapped," until Christmas Eve. That night, Father Christmas, relaxing in his chair by the fireside, will read children's letters and recount the classic poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” A reading by Charles Dickens of the entirety of “A Christmas Carol” - in one go! - will also be unveiled that night. https://dickensfair.com/dickens-fair-at-home

By the by, Red Barn Productions is donating all profits from Dickens Fair At Home souvenir sales to the Living History Centre (see LHC section below).

If you wish to receive the regular DFH eBlasts, please join our patron email list here: https://dickensfair.com/general/contact-us
Please Support Our Crafts & Performer Communities
Support the vendors you know and love by shopping for all your holiday gift items online at the Dickens Fair at Home Marketplace! Over 50 of our beloved artisans have transitioned to online sales, so please champion home-grown creativity by spreading the word to your friends and family. And keep patience in mind when ordering your gifts - handmade treasures are, by definition, limited in quantity, and Father Christmas’ reindeer may take a little longer than usual to deliver the goods, so please allow a bit of extra time for shipping.

Memorial on December 12th (via Zoom)
We have a tradition of gathering on the 4th Saturday of the Fair to honor and celebrate those in our community who have passed during the preceding year. Robert Young and Kevin Patterson have decided to continue this important tradition even though we cannot gather in person. A special Missive will be sent out at the beginning of December with all the details. You may also email robertyoung.redbarn@gmail.com with questions or requests.

Current list of loved ones being honored thus far: Chris Neely, (Jewelry) Jennifer “Mercy” Golsary (Design, Beverage, all of it), Timothy McMillian (Blackpoint crew), John Redgewick (Performer, Friend of Faire), Morgyn Owens Celli (Wheat Weaver).
Performer Links
As mentioned previously, we want to share with you what some in our performing community are doing online. Here are some new ones! If you have others to suggest, please contact Cat at dickensfair@cattaylor.com

London’s Friendly Chimney Sweep Jim Chiminey (Shelby Bond) would like to invite you on a grand adventure. Choose a journey to the Wild West, 18th-century Scotland, a night of terror, or a fun mythical voyage for the kids. These interactive online experiences include games, scavenger hunts, and a playable narrative where your actions decide the outcome. Just because you’re stuck indoors doesn’t mean you can’t meet your friends and escape to another world. Adventure awaits! www.Adventure-Party.com

The DulciMates: Holiday Mode The DulciMates would normally be playing tunes & songs at the Dickens Fair this time of year. Alas, 2020 happened, and they’ll be at home, like the rest of us. However, they are happy to play in YOUR home instead! No matter where you are, please welcome them in with their folky holiday cheer in song & music. A link will posted on the website and Facebook a day or two before the concert. Subscribe to "Deborah Hamouris" on YouTube to get notifications of live events & new videos.

Thorne Magic. Salutations! Cody Nichols here (the guy who plays P. T. Barnum at Dickens). I am a magician in the muggle world who performs under the stage name Alexander Thorn, and I have been offering online magic shows in my bizarre style. If any are interested, there is most definitely a discount for fellow Dickens people. My website is www.thornmagic.com.

Joshua Archer from Paddy West. I am the executive director of The Game Academy - The Game Academy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to the social, emotional and academic success of learners of all ages through the use of tabletop role-playing games and live-action role play. We provide collaborative storytelling experiences that encourage academic and social/emotional skills in both youth ages 8-18 and adults through our innovative enrichment classes, summer camps and custom made curricula for educators.

From The Coventry Carolers: Dear fellow travelers: Keep an eye on Facebook and our YouTube Channel for several more songs from the Coventry Carolers still in the works. I hope you're enjoying them! Bob Crabb - Director. Your own, your very, very own Coventry Carolers
(Note from Cat: they recorded a special carol just for Dickens Fair at Home and it's really lovely!)

Storytelling with Bill and Jane Burns: Has the plague got you blue and lacking holiday fun this year? Mr John Brown and Krampus are here for Holiday cheer!
During the run of The Dickens Fair join these two scamps with LIVE broadcasts from 'Balmoral Castle' as will be telling tales, jokes and having general shenanigans to put some cheer in ye wee heart!

Dickens "Pass the Brush Challenge": (Note from Cat) I’ve heard a rumor about a challenge that was started by Jeremy’s Girls and picked up by the Oliver Twist cast. It’s pretty fun...

Music & Massages from Calvaleigh: Normally, during the run, I offer a $20 off-per-session discount on massage for cast and crew. Because I am still allowed to practice, I want to extend that to everyone, in spite of the fact that we're not doing a show this year. Since I know everyone will have different comfort levels on the current situation, I will honor the discount to anyone who books during the standard run, even if it means you are booking for next year. It's a great gift to get for you, or for someone else, even if you aren't going to use it right away. Click here for more info.
Our pseudo-medieval duo "Viadeyra" will also be continuing virtual concerts during the holiday season. Click on our name above for more info.
The Living History Centre Fund
The Living History Centre does quite a bit more than run the wonderful Participant Workshop program for Dickens. It is also a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that administers a fund that makes small grants to those doing living history-related educational projects. Its current focus is on helping living history artists during this difficult time. Again, Red Barn Productions is donating all profits from Dickens Fair At Home souvenir sales to the Living History Centre. To learn more or apply for a LHC grant, visit livinghistorycentre.org

Help the LHC with its mission! If you would like to make a donation or spread the word to other individuals or businesses - the more, the merrier! Donations to the LHC are tax deductible. If donating by check, they can be sent to Living History Centre, PO Box 1482, Novato, CA 94948-1482. 

The LHC is also now registered with Benevity, a platform that handles matching funds from a range of large employers. Just this week, a Dickens Fair participant and Google employee (thank you, mystery person!) was able to steer funds from Google's Giving Week directly to The Living History Centre! If you have undeployed Giving Week funds in your company, search for "Living History Centre" (confirm Novato, CA) in your company's giving platform. Help us sustain and grow our ability to foster living history education into the future. Thank you from the Board of Directors of the Living History Centre!
Pies, Rum Cakes and Toy Drive - Oh My!**
(from Carol Goodman - Beverage & Catering Coordinator)

While we won't be able to donate 700+ toys to the Daly City Fire Department this year... we can still donate! Kristen & Dean Scott (of The Celtic Tea Shoppe & London's Finest Cakes & Puddings), will be delivering pre-ordered food items on Dec 5 at Serramonte Shopping Center & December 12 to Castro Valley and Vallejo.  They will also be gathering new, unwrapped toys for us to donate to DCFD. If you already intend to place an order with them, or even if you're not ordering anything, please consider bringing a toy to donate at your pick up location.

They're doing this one more drop off this year, to deliver Christmas goodies such as Christmas pudding, Yule cake, yummy meat pies, sausage rolls, and even Turkey Dinner shepherd's pies. If you would like to place an order, go to their website: https://celticteashoppe.com.
November DEI Resources from Red Barn Productions
This month, many of us will celebrate Thanksgiving, even if it’s over Zoom. The origin story of this holiday, of course, commemorates initial contact between Indigenous people and European arrivals. While the history of that relationship has been marked by oppression, the story is not over - visit these resources to learn about supporting Indigenous artists and Indigenous rights today. Red Barn Productions thanks all Indigenous participants for their talent and participation in our events. 

Red Barn Productions is an anti-racist, anti-discrimination company. Combating ingrained and sometimes unconscious bias takes learning and support, and so we will continue to connect participants with resources that may serve all of us on our journeys. Our community will always be stronger when we lift each other up. 

Note: Unless expressly stated, RBP does not have any affiliation with any groups listed
below. We offer their work in the spirit of connecting our community with thought leaders in anti-racism and social justice, especially if their resources are free or low-cost.

Links and Resources:

● The Thanksgiving Play** - Lakota playwright Larissa Fasthorse’s smart, sharp satire follows three “woke” white thespians devising an elementary school pageant about the first Thanksgiving. Great for reading aloud!

● Reclaiming Native Truth - An Indigenous-run research project, RNT aims to counter harmful narratives that enable discrimination and invisibility, and limit Native opportunity, access to justice, health, and self-determination. https://rnt.firstnations.org/

● Bay Area Equity Atlas - “Indigenous Populations in the Bay Area.” One painful aspect of anti-Indigenous racism is erasure. This page names Indigenous tribes and other organizations currently living and working for justice in the Bay Area.
 
● The Shuumi Land Tax - The U.S. government does not officially recognize the tribal rights of Ohlone people still living on their ancestral lands in the East Bay. This denies them federal funding and other resources. Read about the Indigenous women who founded the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, and their request for non-Indigenous East Bay allies to support their activism through a “gift” land tax. https://www.kalw.org/post/native-americans-ask-east-bay-residents-pay-tax-land#stream/0

Recommended Reading/Viewing:

How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America (ed. Sara Sinclair). This book collects stories of struggle and triumph by Indigenous writers. Also, Haymarket Books is a worker-owned, nonprofit, non-Amazon bookseller, so hurrah!

● NPR: “This List of Books, Films and Podcasts About Racism is a Start, Not a Panacea.” This varied, powerful list includes works that address, as NPR says, “how racism permeates everything from the criminal justice system to health care. Information is power — you decide what you do with it.” Amen to that. 
Reminder for All Participants About Resources for Tough Times
2-1-1 Bay Area – for food, shelter, counseling, employment assistance, quality child care, senior services.
Quick Links and Contact Information
Quick Links:


Contact Information
For specific questions regarding performing at the Fair, please email Cat Taylor
If your group would like to perform at the Fair for just one day (school caroling groups, etc.)
please email Robert Young
For specific questions regarding vending at the Fair please email Vendors
For specific questions the beverage department please email Beverage
For questions regarding costumes, please email Costumes