December 3rd

Breakfast With Santa

Saturday, 8:00 a.m.; Young Peoples Community Center (YPCC)

 

Making a special pre-Christmas journey direct from the North Pole, Father Christmas (Santa) is inviting kids and their families to a breakfast exclusively at the YPCC!  Come join Father Christmas, the YPCC and the Ebensburg Woman’s Club in celebrating the holidays. To help pay for the extra hay required by Santa’s reindeer to make this special trip, admission will be $6.00 for both children and adults or $15.00 per family of 3 or more. Please call the YPCC at 472-4277.  The fee includes breakfast, crafts, story time, and a photo with Santa.

Indoor Craft Fairs

Saturday, 8:00 a.m. at Holy Name Church, Dauntless Fire Station & VFW 

 

Visit our holiday craft fair at THREE locations as you begin your Christmas shopping. Over 100 costumed vendors on hand to peddle their wares and serve their fare. Exhibitors will display a wide variety of hand-crafted items such as clothing, home decor, baked goods, spices, wood crafts, metal sculptures, art decor, and numerous other unique products. Our craft shows focus on hand-made original crafts and products, and will grow to be the region’s largest craft show! This event is just what Santa ordered; an enjoyable, affordable place to unwind with friends and family.

The craft fair at Holy Name Church boasts 50 vendors and is open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There is also a bake sale and food booth. The craft fair at Dauntless Fire Station, and right across the street at the VFW, are open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

A Dickens of A Downtown

All Day Saturday in Historic Downtown Ebensburg

 

The streets of historic Downtown Ebensburg will come alive with the Christmas spirit. Wander into a local restaurant or pub offering Dickens-era food and ale; shop for antiques and collectibles; enjoy checking out the Victorian Costumes! In “Victorian Ebensburg”, don’t be surprised if you run into Father Christmas! You will have the pleasure of walking tree-lined streets outlined by Victorian lampposts, resting on a Victorian park bench and simply enjoying an old-fashioned holiday. It’s a day right out of “Currier & Ives” in Downtown Ebensburg!

Enjoy the cressets in Penn Eben Park, filled with wood and set aflame. A “cresset” is a basket of fire. They were kept continuously alight and placed at the focal point of a community. Around it people gathered for their meetings and social discourse. From it they took fire to light and heat their own homes. Ebensburg’s cressets are hand-made based on 18th century originals.

Ice Sculptures

Saturday, 9:00 a.m. in Penn Eben Park

An outstanding display of carved ice sculptures will be located in Penn Eben Park. Come and watch the talented ice carving team sculpt 23 seasonal images! Enjoy the ice throne for a memorable photo op. During Dickens of a Christmas, ice is just the tip of the iceberg.

Snow, Ice and Christmas often go together. The reason that we think of Snow and Ice at Christmas is attributed to the Victorians! It was the Victorians who gave us our “traditional” Christmas in Europe and the United States. At the start of the Victorian era (1837), Britain was in a mini ice age that was from about 1550 to 1850. During this time, in London, a winter fair was held on the frozen River Thames.

When Charles Dickens was a child, Britain had very heavy snowfalls around Christmas, so when he wrote A Christmas Carol he put lots of snow and ice in it! He also put snow at Christmas in some of his other books like The Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens' books were very popular (and still are!) so when the Victorians read the books, they thought of snow and Christmas together!  

Courthouse Decorating Display

All Day Saturday; Cambria County Courthouse

 

County employees do a terrific job of decorating the courthouse row offices for the holiday season. The courthouse is open to visitors all day Saturday and Sunday and is a stop that the entire family will enjoy. 

The Cambria County Courthouse was originally constructed in 1880, a decade after Dickens' death.  Major additions were made to the building in the early 20th century.  it stands today in its original splendor as an example of Victorian Second Empire architecture.

Model Railroad Display

Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.; First United Church of Christ

Visit the First United Church of Christ on East High Street and view a model railroad display. The display is open from 9am-1pm.

Model railroading has become an integral part of Christmas in America Ironically, it is undeniable how much Dickens abhorred the rail system and the impending industrial revolution that was to sweep England (and the world) in the mid-nineteenth century. Dickens writes of railways as though they were the epitome of gloom and doom, catastrophic, as demonstrated in Dombey and Son. Charles Dickens seems to be mourning the death of a different life, one he will never return to. Dickens was using the railway and the death of a particular lifestyle as a metaphor for the death of young Paul Dombey.

 

Christmas Parade

Saturday, 11:00 a.m.; Downtown Ebensburg

 

The Ebensburg Christmas Parade is a grand tradition! The theme for this year’s parade and other events is “A Dicken's Village”. The parade begins at the middle school, proceeds down North Center Street, turns right onto West High Street and finally north on Julian Street. The center of town is your best seat! The parade will include holiday floats, local civic organizations and churches, fire equipment, dancers, marching bands, and more. As always, a very special guest from the North Pole will signal the end of the parade and the beginning of the holiday season!

Residents and visitors are encouraged to dress in Dickens-style costume for the parade and their afternoon in Downtown Ebensburg!

 

Children’s Treats & Photos

Saturday, immediately following parade; Penn Eben Park
 

As soon as his duties with the Christmas Parade are discharged, Santa Claus will visit the gazebo in Penn Eben Park. There he will distribute free Christmas treats to all good little urchins (compliments of the Ebensburg Kiwanis Club)! Mom & Dad are free to take photos of the kids with Santa, or the Dickens staff will take a photo for you and email it to you later. Photos are free!

 

Mrs. Buck's Sweet Shoppe

Saturday, Noon-3:00 p.m.; Cambria County Historical Society

Mrs. Buck has opened a “Sweets Shop” in her Victorian home on North Center Street.

Stop by and enjoy a tasty pastry and a soothing cup of tea. As always, the maids and kitchen staff look forward to your visit. Mrs. Buck will be selling a variety of sweets, and prices vary. Reservations are not required.

Young Ladies Yultide Tea

Saturday, Noon -1:30 p.m.; Ebensburg Library, 225 West Highland Avenue

 

The Ebensburg Cambria Library hosts this Yuletide Tea for young ladies between the ages of 5 and 10. Our butler, complete with top hat and tails, will greet the young ladies at the door as they arrive. The young ladies are encouraged to wear their fanciest dress.  There will be crafts, cookie decorating, a quick course in Victorian manners and storytelling by Dr. Anne D. Creany. A traditional high tea complete with scones, tea sandwiches and sweets will be served with tea and hot chocolate.

Seating is limited to 24 and reservations are required.  Please call the library at 814-472-7957 or visit the library to make a reservation.  The cost of the event is only $5.00 per person.

Old English Prison Tour

Saturday, Noon - 4:00 p.m.; Former Cambria County Prison

 

The English practiced a peculiar form of punishment for someone who could not pay their bills – a special prison where the offender was incarcerated indefinitely until his creditors were satisfied. The fact that a person in prison was unable to work to earn the money necessary to repay the debt did not enter into their logic. Debtors often died in these prisons due to the terrible living conditions.

 

Dickens’ father was constantly in debt, and in 1824 he was imprisoned in Marshalsea debtor's prison. Charles Dickens was forced to leave school at the age of 12. It was his personal experience of factory work and the living conditions of the poor that inspired Dickens to frequently write of workhouses and prisons. For example, in Oliver Twist, Dickens describes Fagin crossing "a gloomy passage lighted by a few dim lamps, into the interior of the prison". In A Visit To Newgate, he refers to “the tortuous and intricate windings” of the prison. Dickens was a true champion of the poor, and repeatedly pointed out the atrocities of the system through his novels.

The former Cambria County Jail was built in 1872, approximately 50 years after Dickens’ father served his sentence, and two years after Dickens’ death. While certainly not festive, many visitors will enjoy the opportunity to inspect the 19th century lockup. Distasteful and uncomfortable circumstances were common in Dickens’ writings. Of his masterpiece, A Christmas Carol, Dickens said, “I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” Stop by and visit Cambria County’s version of “Newgate”, London’s infamous prison.

 

Remember when the charity fundraisers came to Scrooge's office looking for a handout for the needy and Scrooge responded gruffly, “Are there no prisons... and the Union workhouses, are they still in operation?"

Admission for this event is free.

Sleigh and Carriage Rides

Saturday, Noon - 4:00 p.m.; Downtown

 

Experience an
old-fashioned horse-drawn sleigh ride or carriage ride through charming Ebensburg. Your ride will take you over the meadow, through the woods to grandmother's house. Let our holiday sleigh take you back to yesteryear and become a part of your family tradition. You and your whole family will enjoy this nostalgic ride. Warm up with hot chocolate, spiced cider and coffee upon your return.

Carriage & sleigh rides are only five crown ($5.00) per person.

Ice Skating Indoors

Saturday, 1:00 p.m.; North Central Recreation Center

 

Cambria County’s indoor skating facility will be open all afternoon and evening during “Dickens” for ice-skating. Ice-skating is the topic of conversation in this excerpt from Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers. “Now,” said Wardle, after a substantial lunch, with the agreeable items of strong beer and cherry-brandy, had been done ample justice to, “What say you to an hour on the ice?  We shall have plenty of time.  “Capital!” said Mr. Benjamin Allen.  “Prime!” ejaculated Mr. Bob Sawyer.  “You skate, of course, Winkle?” said Wardle.  “Ye-yes; oh, yes,” replied Mr. Winkle.  
“I--I--am RATHER out of practice.”  “Oh, DO skate, Mr. Winkle,” said Arabella.  “I like to see it so much.”  “Oh, it is SO graceful,” said another young lady.  A third young lady said it was elegant, and a fourth expressed her opinion that it was “swan-like.”

”I should be very happy, I'm sure,” said Mr. Winkle, reddening; “but I have no skates.”  This objection was at once overruled.  Trundle had a couple of pair, and the fat boy announced that there were half a dozen more downstairs; whereat Mr. Winkle expressed exquisite delight, and looked exquisitely uncomfortable.

Old Wardle led the way to a pretty large sheet of ice; and the fat boy and Mr. Weller, having shoveled and swept away the snow which had fallen on it during the night, Mr. Bob Sawyer adjusted his skates with a dexterity which to Mr. Winkle was perfectly marvelous, and described circles with his left leg, and cut figures of eight, and inscribed upon the ice, without once stopping for breath, a great many other pleasant and astonishing devices, to the excessive satisfaction of Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Tupman, and the ladies; which reached a pitch of positive enthusiasm, when old Wardle and Benjamin Allen, assisted by the aforesaid Bob Sawyer, performed some mystic evolutions, which they called a reel.

The fee for skating is one pound ($4.00) per person. Skates are available for rent for fifteen shilling ($3.00)

 

Children's Activities at the YPCC

Saturday, All afternoon beginning at 2:00 p.m.; Young Peoples Community Center

Come by the Young Peoples Community Center for some Merry Christmas party games.  The YPCC is the place for great Christmas games that are ideal for all ages. In order to cover costs of materials, all events at the YPCC have a $3.00 fee. See details of each event below.

Cresson Lake Playhouse Holiday Production of "Winter Wonderettes”.

Saturday, 2:00 p.m.; Cambria County Courthouse

holiday production by Cresson Lake Playhouse is one of the

The holiday production by Cresson Lake Playhouse is one of the favorite events during Dickens, and something you and your family will not want to miss. The Wonderettes create a rockin’ 60s party to celebrate the holidays with friends and family! The girls are entertaining at the 1968 Holiday Party for Harper’s Hardware. Audience members are fellow employees, friends and family and the girls have transformed the hardware store into a winter wonderland. When Santa turns up missing, the girls must use their talent and creative ingenuity, plus some great holiday tunes to save their holiday party. This energetic and entertaining show is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

Call early to reserve your seats for this family production. Admission to the production is seventeen crown ($17) for adults and ten crown ($10) for children. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (814) 472-4333 or visit www.cressonlake.com.

 

Christmas Cantata & Welsh Tea

Saturday, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.;  First United Church of Christ

The annual Christmas Cantata at First United Church is a Dickens highlight each and every year. Check the website regularly for details on the 2011 show.

Visit this old Historic Welsh Independent Church established in 1797 – The first church in Cambria County.  Sip tea and sample authentic Welsh Tea Cakes as you listen to the Sounds of Christmas presented by our church & community musicians. Experience the past in style as you celebrate our “Dickens of a Christmas” Concert and Tea. The Cantata features the Adult Choir, Bell Choir and String Ensemble. Welsh tea cakes are served to the music of “Sounds From the Porch” String Ensemble. The kids won’t want to miss the model train display in the church basement.

 

Scrooge & Cookies

Saturday, 2:00 p.m.; Young Peoples Community Center

 

Bah Humbug!  What an unlikely duo, Ebenezer and Milk and Cookies.  Kids of all ages won’t want to miss this chance to spend time with the old penny-pinching miser himself.  Heck, our scrumptious cookies are sure to warm any scrooge’s appetite.

Admission for this event is $3.00.

 

Model Railroad Display

Saturday, 3:00 p.m. ; First United Church of Christ

Visit the First United Church of Christ on East High Street and view a model railroad display. The display is open from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

"Murder...Dickens Styles" - A Murder Mystery Dinner Show

Saturday, 6:00p.m.; Fairview Bed & Breakfast

Drop Dead Productions of Pittsburgh presents this dinner show in conjunction with Fairview Bed & Breakfast.

It's Christmas time in Down town Ebensburg. Old Uncle Scrooge, who was magically transformed only 15 years ago into one who "knew how to keep Christmas well, if anyone possessed the knowledge", is on his way from Victorian London to attend a festival in his honor. Unfortunately, there has been a murder. Join some of Scrooge's closest "friends" in solving the mystery.

Tickets are $30 per person (includes theatre, dinner and tax). For reservations contact the Fairview Bed & Breakfast at 814-421-2543 or email thefairviewbedandbreakfast@gmail.com.

Cresson Lake Playhouse Holiday Production of "Winter Wonderettes ”.

Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Cambria County Courthouse

holiday production by Cresson Lake Playhouse is one of the

The holiday production by Cresson Lake Playhouse is one of the favorite events during Dickens, and something you and your family will not want to miss. The Wonderettes create a rockin’ 60s party to celebrate the holidays with friends and family! The girls are entertaining at the 1968 Holiday Party for Harper’s Hardware. Audience members are fellow employees, friends and family and the girls have transformed the hardware store into a winter wonderland. When Santa turns up missing, the girls must use their talent and creative ingenuity, plus some great holiday tunes to save their holiday party. This energetic and entertaining show is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

Call early to reserve your seats for this family production. Admission to the production is seventeen crown ($17) for adults and ten crown ($10) for children. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (814) 472-4333 or visit www.cressonlake.com.