DICKENS HOLIDAY VILLAGE

Description

Olde England comes alive in Historic Downtown Antioch, IL with handcrafted, lifelike figures representing scenes from the Dickens Era. Experience this Volunteer Public Art Exhibit while strolling among the delightful streets of Antioch. You'll enjoy the charm of Dickens among the many boutiques, gift shops, and eateries. All Dickens Characters are made from the ground up with this community public art program.

Dickens Holiday Village will be outside on the sidewalks of Downtown Antioch beginning November 4ththrough December 25th for you to enjoy. Each character exhibit has a plaque which describes the scene you are seeing and how life was in the Dickens Era. Each year, Dickens Holiday Village grows with additional handcrafted characters added to our Village. In 2017, you will enjoy 50+ characters!

Begin your Dickens Experience at our Dickens Welcome Center (location TBD), in the heart of our Downtown. At the Welcome Center, you'll enjoy Dickens style hospitality as you receive your free Walking Tour Brochure and learn more about Dickens Holiday Village.

KRINGLE'S CHRISTMAS VILLAGE TOUR--visit our website for information on our newest free Holiday Program!

Dickens Tour Opportunities-Walking Tours and Bus Tourss

There are several types of tours available for Antioch's Dickens Holiday Village (November 4th  thru December 25th). All tours begin at our Dickens Welcome Center in Downtown Antioch. Please CLICK HERE for complete tour information.   If you are coming with friends or a small group, you can pick up your free Walking Tour Brochures. We will happily provide a Tour Guide for groups of 20+, donations appreciated.

Please allow time to enjoy Antioch's quaint downtown and eateries as you enjoy our Dickens Experience.

Our Dickens Volunteers are very proud of what they created for our community and love to share their stories of the year-long project of bringing Dickens to life while leading a tour.

Family Fun on Saturdays
Saturdays Nov 4 thru Dec 16

On special Saturdays you'll find Dickens Fun throughout Downtown Antioch. Perhaps you'll enjoy musical interludes with Street Musicians strolling throughout an afternoon while bringing musical cheer to Antioch.  Another Saturday afternoon you might enjoy the vocal talents of strolling carolers. 

Strolling Musicians:  Noon till 2:00 pm, dates TBD.
Strolling Carolers: TBA
Scrooge: Bring the kids to find Scrooge on special Saturdays in December (Noon-2, Dec. 2, 9, and 16). The kids should look around downtown to find Scrooge.  If they spot him, Scrooge will give them some shiny new pennies, while grumbling the whole time (Scrooge hates to part with a penny.)
 

Scrooge U Saturdays Fun & Savings
Saturdays November 4th thru December 24th

Make the most of your visit to Dickens Holiday Village to enjoy the special activities and sales that "Scrooge U" Saturdays that Antioch hosts. We understand that not everyone enjoys the warm & fuzzy feeling that the Dickens Era brings . . . so we say "Scrooge U".  In Antioch, you'll enjoy Scrooge U Saturdays at participating businesses. Each Saturday brings something new: it could be a savings, special purchases or perhaps some  Dickens merchandise throughout November and December (each Saturday is a new experience). 
 
In 2018 Dickens Holiday Village will be on display Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day.

Dickens Holiday Village is a Community Volunteer Art Project hosted by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.  Your support is greatly appreciated! Please send your donation to the Antioch Chamber, 882 Main Street, Antioch IL 60002, 847-395-2233.
 

Dickens Volunteers
A Community Volunteer Art Project

• In 2013 a Downtown Merchant - Charlie, brought the idea of a Dickens Art Project to the Antioch Chamber. Charlie occasionally travels for business and had seen a Dickens program in another state.  With the perserverance of Charlie, the Antioch Chamber began to explore the possibility how Dickens and what a Volunteer Art Project would entail.  

• The Antioch Chamber quickly learned that Volunteers are key to this program,  Among the many things that Antioch, IL is known for, volunteerism ranks near the top of the list! Dickens Holiday Village has been created from the ground up from volunteers . . . almost everything was handmade by  several volunteer committees which were formed to bring Dickens Holiday Village to Antioch:

• Mannequin Committee-each Dickens character is handmade by our volunteers, building the mannequins out of wood and even making some of the mannequins movable to pose for different scenes;

• Art Committee-our Artistic volunteers use styrophone heads, then sculpt them and paint them for our real life Dickens look. Each Dickens Head is a work of art in themselves and took the artist many hours to create.  Art volunteers also create props as needed;

• Storyline Committee-these creative people wrote a story which we used as a template and worked together to create the Dickens experience. You'll see the happy side of the Dickens Era and also experience the sad side of Dickens as you see young children working to help support their families;

• Apparel Committee-a talented group of women bonded together to outfit our Dickens Characters in clothing appropriate to the Dickens Era, in many cases, creating the outfits in their own homes;

• Promotion Committee - these volunteers work with our business community to bring fun Dickens activities to the public to enjoy (even for your the dogs!);

• Snow Removal Committee - if our Dickens  Characters get covered with snow, volunteer families will come and gently brush the snow off our Dickens Characters.