Deventer hosts annual Dickens festival celebrating Victorian England

Carol singers and Dickensian characters filled the cobbled streets of Deventer as the Dutch town staged its annual two-day Dickens Festijn, honoring English writer Charles Dickens. Launched in December 1991 by shop owner Emmy Strik, the festival reflects her love of Victorian England and has since grown into a major winter attraction, now organized by her daughter. 

. Liesbeth Velders-Strik, Shop owner said  "The Dickens Festijn came to be because she [Liesbeth's mother Emmy Strik] had the Dille en Kamille, the shop, and about 30 years ago we were asked in Deventer to start, to be open on a Sunday. So my mother said, well, okay, that's nice, but then I want to do something with it, not just go open my store, but do something. And that's why - she's really a fan of England and Dickens, and she said, I want to have a Victorian Christmas.

The festival features hundreds of volunteers dressed as characters from Dickens’ novels, along with carol singers, musicians and historical reenactments. This year’s programme included the return of a suffragette march, an element from the festival’s early years that had been absent for a long time.