From the Galveston Daily News...

Post-Ike Dickens draws national media attention

By Bronwyn Turner
Correspondent
Published December 5, 2008

GALVESTON — Hand bells and a homes tour tonight mark the eve of Dickens on The Strand weekend, as Galveston again prepares for national media attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman and several Houston television stations will have correspondents covering the Victorian holiday festival, organizers said.

“Their really basic question is ‘How can we put a festival on with the downtown in the condition it is,’” said Molly Dannenmaier, director of marketing and public relations for the Galveston Historical Foundation, which put on the event.

The answer will be unveiled Saturday morning, when Victorian-clad carolers, jugglers, a sword swallower, acrobats, magicians, bagpipers and even a flea circus take to The Strand.

Along streets where 10 feet of water surged more than two months ago, some 135 vendors will set up shop, including many displaced downtown businesses manning booths displaying their wares.

“Now, more than ever, we need our Dickens on The Strand Festival to take place,” said Galveston Historical Foundation Director Dwayne Jones in comments on the foundation’s Web site. “Our downtown businesses are all facing extensive flood remediation right now.

“If we can aim for the Dickens festival ... as a moment when people who love Galveston can come visit and check on our progress and help us raise the money we need to continue our restoration efforts, that will be a very good thing for all of us.”

Visitors will find many of the traditional trappings of Dickens on The Strand, now in its 35th year. Her Majesty Queen Victoria will still be escorted by a colorful guard of Beefeaters in her royal parade Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Entertainers and choirs will be featured on festival stages, while costumed vendors peddle wares from street stalls.

But the setting will be somewhat changed after Hurricane Ike — the festival will be confined to The Strand between 21st and 25th streets and will take place during daylight hours. Many downtown businesses open to crowds in previous years will be shuttered this year.

Businesses announcing openings in time for the festival include Old Strand Emporium, Tsunami Exotic Tequila Emporium, Tola-Mo Bettah Market, Yaga Clothing Store and Hendley Market. While visitors may see closed doors and hurricane debris, festival organizers hope they will also glimpse the community spirit of post-Ike Galveston. The sense of community has under girded Dickens on The Strand since it began in 1973 as an evening potluck celebration of the Victorian-era downtown.

“Dickens on The Strand is more than a GHF event,” Jones said in comments published in the Galveston County Daily News last month. “It kicks off the holiday season as well as bringing thousands of visitors to the island.

“This is an economic benefit to GHF and all of Galveston,” he wrote. “That is important, but more important is that we congregate as a community in one common space — ‘the heart of downtown’ on The Strand.”

The foundation’s booth will be selling “Historic Galveston Rebirth” banners and decals.

“Dickens is a first step to officially opening a new and reborn Galveston,” Jones wrote.