December 17, 2016
10 am – 12 pm
The children will be read ‘Twas the night before Christmas, make Old fashioned Christmas cards and ornaments and may even be visited by old Saint Nicholas himself! Reservations are required and the cost is $15/child. Please contact Angell Wallace at (615) 794-0903 or angell@boft.org.
Join us for the largest Christmas festival in Middle Tennessee! Step back in time with the Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County when Dickens of a Christmas returns to Franklin’s Main Street December 10-11, 2016.
Sponsored this year by Nissan, the 32nd annual free street festival will recreate the time of Charles Dickens using historic downtown Franklin’s Victorian architecture as the backdrop. Some 200 musicians, dancers and characters will fill the streets, including several from Charles Dickens’s stories. Expect to see and interact with the nefarious Fagin from Oliver Twist; Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim Cratchit with his parents from A Christmas Carol; and of course, a Victorian Father and Mother Christmas with treats for children.
As more attention is turned toward downtown Franklin in both the local and national press, we encourage festival goers to dress in Victorian costume and to add to the ambiance as they stroll the streets.
This year’s event will reprise a crowd favorite from last year: it WILL snow at Dickens of a Christmas! Come decked out in holiday style to capture that perfect family picture.
Producing Dickens of a Christmas is just one of the many activities of The Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County. Since 1967 the non-profit group has been dedicated to protecting and preserving Williamson County’s historic, architectural and geographic resources; in short, saving the places that matter.
Join us for the largest Christmas festival in Middle Tennessee! Step back in time with the Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County when Dickens of a Christmas returns to Franklin’s Main Street December 10-11, 2016.
Sponsored this year by Nissan, the 32nd annual free street festival will recreate the time of Charles Dickens using historic downtown Franklin’s Victorian architecture as the backdrop. Some 200 musicians, dancers and characters will fill the streets, including several from Charles Dickens’s stories. Expect to see and interact with the nefarious Fagin from Oliver Twist; Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim Cratchit with his parents from A Christmas Carol; and of course, a Victorian Father and Mother Christmas with treats for children.
As more attention is turned toward downtown Franklin in both the local and national press, we encourage festival goers to dress in Victorian costume and to add to the ambiance as they stroll the streets.
This year’s event will reprise a crowd favorite from last year: it WILL snow at Dickens of a Christmas! Come decked out in holiday style to capture that perfect family picture.
Producing Dickens of a Christmas is just one of the many activities of The Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County. Since 1967 the non-profit group has been dedicated to protecting and preserving Williamson County’s historic, architectural and geographic resources; in short, saving the places that matter.
The Dickens of a Christmas Festival in downtown Franklin Saturday drew a record crowd to enjoy unusually warm temperatures on Main Street with the first rays of sunlight at the festival in about two years of the festival.
Music City Strings played tunes in period costumes, while Scrooge ran through the streets with ghosts of Christmas past, present and future from the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. Crowds enjoyed holiday music, food, craft vendors, snow on the old courthouse steps and other holiday sights.
The 31st Dickens of a Christmas drew a record-breaking crowd, according to Rene Evans, Street Festival Manager with The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County.
“The unofficial early estimates could reflect a record-breaking crowd of about 90,000,” Evans said.
The number represents a spike in last year’s attendance, which drew an estimated 50,000 and 60,000 Dickens-goers.
“I had several downtown merchants tell me that they have never seen that many people at any downtown festival,” Evans said. “It could be the highest attended event downtown, ever. We are completely blown away.”
Evans said many factors converged.
“I think the crowd was a convergence of a whole bunch of stars. We have tweaked our publicity efforts. We have amazing media partners. The weather was great. Who doesn’t want to come to downtown Franklin and a sunny day in December.
“Nashville is red-hot right now from a national standpoint, and Franklin is getting written up as a great place for everything in ‘Best of’ lists. We obviously are the beneficiaries of Franklin’s rising national prominence.”
Evans also added new additions to the festival turned out to be crowd pleasers this year such as the beard contest, new vendors and vintage artisan demonstrators like blacksmiths and weavers on Third Avenue.
“Plus, the snow on the old courthouse steps was also a draw,” she said.
Photo by Photo by Charles Pulliam – Dickens of a Christmas
A Holiday tradition in Historic Downtown Franklin, Tennessee where locals celebrate the season.
2015 Kiwanis Christmas Parade – Tree lit streets. Bands playing Christmas carols. Children anxiously awaiting a glimpse of Santa. There is nothing like the beauty and magic of Christmas in Downtown Franklin, TN. We are excited to announce Franklin Kiwanis Christmas Parade is sponsored by Williamson Medical Center this year. The Franklin Christmas Parade is always the first Saturday in December. This year that is December 5th.