Full of Dickensian spirit
First weekend of Dickens Village Festival a success
BY JAMES C. FALCON
editors@bhgnews.com
After a year’s absence, the Dickens Village Festival kicked off the first of three weekends this past week. The festival, which was canceled last year due to COVID-19 concerns, was a welcome sight for festival-goers, as well as the city of Garrison. “I doubt there were less (numbers than in 2019), based on how many people we had,” explained Bree Diffley, director of the Garrison Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Taking the year off didn’t hurt our festival.” In fact, it appeared to be a situation of anticipation making the heart grow fonder. Working from the CVB office in the North Dakota Firefighters Museum on Main Street, Diffley didn’t get a chance to observe everyone at the festival. However, based on factors such as ticket sales, there was quite an interest in the first weekend of the three-weekend festival. “I think it went really well,” Diffley said. “We were really impressed with the crowd. Everyone had nothing but good things to say about the festival, so I would say it’s a success.”
