DICKENS HOLIDAY VILLAGE 2021
Date and Time
Thursday Nov 25, 2021 Saturday Jan 1, 2022
Our Dickens Characters are placed on our sidewalks beginning Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day. Each year more characters will be added to our Dickens Experience.
Location
Downtown Antioch, on the sidewalks of Main Street and Lake Street and visit Dickens Park inside of our Kringle's Christmas Village (located at #510 Orchard Street, far west end of the Piggly Wiggly Plaza), which is open daily 10 am till 8 pm Thanksgiving thru New Year's Day.
Fees/Admission
This Fall you can print your complimentary Dickens Walking Tour Brochure
Website
Contact Information
Antioch Chamber 847-395-2233
Send Email

Description
DICKENS HOLIDAY VILLAGE 2021
Raymond Chevrolet-Kia, Proud Sponsor
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 in 2 different ways
1) while strolling among the delightful streets of Antioch; and/or
2) Inside our Kringle Christmas Village Indoor Showroom located at #510 Orchard Street.
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 on Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day for you to enjoy 24/7. 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 2021, Kringles Christmas Village Fun Continues!
Open daily beginning the day after Thanksgiving through New Years, you'll enjoy browsing through our Kringle INDOOR SHOWROOM located at #510 Orchard Street Plaza (opposite end from Piggly Wiggly, past restaurants) in Downtown Antioch, IL.
This fall you can download a Dickens Brochure or simply enjoy strolling around Downtown Antioch to see the Dickens Characters. Each has a plaque with their story.
Thanks to the generosity of Raymond Chevrolet-Kia, the Antioch Chamber is continuing to offer FREE public viewing of our Dickens Holiday Program and Kringle Christmas Village!
Dickens Tour Opportunities-Walking Tours and Bus Tourss
There are several types of tours available for Antioch's Dickens Holiday Village Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day). Please CLICK HERE for complete tour information. If you are coming with friends or a small group, you can download your free Walking Tour Brochure. 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.
In 2021 Dickens Holiday Village will be on display Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day on the Sidewalks. The indoor Dickens Showroom (inside of Kringle) opens the day after Thanksgiving..
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.
A special "Thank You" to Sunny for all of her wonderful art throughout the years for our Dickens characters!
Dickens Volunteers
A Community Volunteer Art Project
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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.
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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:
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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;
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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. A BIG Thank You to Sunny for her many hours of art donated to Dickens. Art volunteers also create props as needed;
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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;
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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;
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Promotion Committee - these volunteers work with our business community to bring fun Dickens activities to the public to enjoy (even for your the dogs!);
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Snow Removal Committee - if our Dickens Characters get covered with snow, volunteer families will come and gently brush the snow off our Dickens Characters.
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