| Where: | Rochester, Kent with Parade on the High Street (starting from Almon Place) |
| When: | Weekends in June & December |
| Time: | Grand Parade usually 2pm each day in summer and 12 noon in winter |
Charles Dickens, the popular Victorian novelist, spent his later years at Rochester in Kent and every summer and winter the residents host a festival to celebrate the local connections to the author. The highlight of each afternoon during the festival weekend is a Grand Parade of fancy-dressed characters from Dickens’ works, and there are associated competitions, drama, readings, street entertainers, a craft fair and more over each weekend, with begins with a costumed ball on the Friday evening. Look out for familiar characters in the parade from Bill Sykes to Miss Havisham! The Christmas event features carol singing with a guaranteed snowfall.
Helpful Hints
In 2024 there was no summer festival due to lack of funds- but the December festival should be going ahead on 7th & 8th December.
In 2023 the summer festival was on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th June and was at noon not the usual 2 pm- it was entitled as the summer weekend and was a little different to usual- check the links for full details. Check the links below for the full schedule.
Click here for schedule: https://www.visitmedway.org/events/rochester-dickensian-christmas-festival-2024-96679/
Click here for the website: http://www.rochesterdickensfestival.org.uk/index.htm
and here: https://www.visitmedway.org/events/dickens-summer-weekend-103321/
And here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rochesterdickenssupporters?ref=ts&fref=ts#Link%20to%20Facebook
When are they going to have the dickens festival this year or next year and are they going to have the Christmas dickens festival this year or next year can you let me know when they are going to have dickens festival rochester
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for your message! I can only help up to a point, as the organisers of the festival haven’t confirmed their plans yet for 2021. Provisional dates for the June weekend were 5th and 6th June but I imagine this will need to be either postponed until restrictions are fully lifted or else cancelled. Provisional dates for December are 4th and 5th. Until they’ve announced their plans we can’t be certain of any of these dates – I’d suggest you keep checking the event’s own website for updates at http://www.rochesterdickensfestival.org.uk/news.htm as that will be where they first confirm their plans- that’s where I’ll be finding out for calendarcustoms as we’re not connected with the organisation of the events.So far they haven’t given out any dates for 2022.
Best wishes,
Averil
can anyone dress up in victorian dress and take part in this festival
my friend wants to know how she can take part ,and can she hire victorian dress
Hi Anthony, I think the organisers are quite keen to have new people taking part- if you visit https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200239/dickens_festival/775/be_part_of_dickens_festival you can follow links to contact them and I’d expect they’d also be the best ones to ask about hiring clothing etc for the events.
Best of luck!
Averil