Unique Texas (and Close By) Christmas Traditions (Part 4 - Dec 17, 2023)
by Scott Sosebee
We continue this week with two more “Only in Texas” Holiday traditions
Dickens on the Strand in Galveston
Victorian-Era English author Charles Dickens is certainly associated with Christmas. After all, his A Christmas Carol remains a classic of the season even 180 years after its publication, but what in the world has that got to do with Texas? If you venture to Galveston the first weekend in December every year (this year, it was held December 1-3), you will find out. You might even meet the famous author, as he (or at least a person who dresses and acts as Dickens) greets revelers every year at Galveston’s premier winter holiday celebration, Dickens On The Strand.
Today, Galveston is known as one of Texas’ most visited and loved tourist destinations. Over a million passengers alone passed through Galveston’s port to board cruise ships leaving from the island, and in all, more than eight million people visited Galveston as a destination in 2022. Estimates are that number will climb even higher as final calculations from 2023 are made. Galveston has become one of Texas’ most recognized and frequented cities, but that was not always the case. The Great Storm of 1900 began a slow decline in Galveston’s economic fortunes, and the elimination of illegal gambling dens in the 1950s also dealt the city a blow so much that by the late 1960s and the 1970s, Galveston was but a shell of its former self. Tourist visits had declined, and the once teeming wharves were no longer a hub of activity. Perhaps the hardest hit of all Galveston’s areas was the downtown around the port, known affectionately as “The Strand.” While The Strand was once so populated with cotton brokers, financial houses, and banks that the city had gained the moniker of the “Wall Street of the Southwest,” by the early 1970s, most of those commercial concerns had disappeared, and in their places were empty, neglected buildings, other structures in various stages of disrepair, and perhaps the odd curio shop. The Strand looked like a once-grand mansion that had seriously gone to seed. Something needed to be done, but what?
The Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) had a plan in 1974 to revitalize downtown while at the same time helping to preserve the historic structures. The city’s Strand was a decaying historic site, and when had a number of those now degenerating structures been most vibrant and vital? The 1870s, of course. In those years, the downtown teemed with visitors, many of them dressed in their finest Victorian attire, strolling their way between cotton brokers, shipping concerns, and financial institutions to make deals and money. The minds of the GHF tried to think of something related to that era that would draw visitors to the island, and Charles Dickens came to mind. And what was probably his most famous novel? A Christmas Carol, of course, and thus the idea of “Dickens on the Strand.” The first year of the celebration in 1974 was a community-centered “potluck” affair that was designed more to bring awareness to the need to preserve the historic significance of The Strand, and it grew from there. Will Wright of the Galveston Historical Foundation said in an interview with Texas Highways magazine, in 2021, that “Dickens on the Strand works so well on so many levels. It acknowledges our architectural history, offers local businesses an early December bump in sales, and is something that the residents have a real connection with. It’s a generational event for so many.”
If you travel to “Dickens on the Strand,” you truly will be taken back in time, at least in spirit. Most of the revelers dress in period costumes, so you will be surrounded by men in frock jackets and waistcoats, wearing top hats, and women in hoop skirts so elaborate you wonder how they are able to move. The fashion of the 1870s certainly dominates the attire, but that is not all you will see. Look around, and you may see someone who looks like he just stepped out of the Court of Queen Elizabeth I in the late 1500s, or even swear you saw William Shakespeare walk by. You don’t even have to dress like you are in Victorian England—frequent attendees to the soiree have worn the attire of an 1870s Texas Sheriff, a powder-wigged member of the 1770s British Parliament, and perhaps even King Henry VIII! Speaking of royalty, Queen Victoria herself usually puts in an appearance or two—and often she is in two places at once!
People in period dress are not all you may see. While you walk The Strand, your mind tells you that you are in Galveston, but your eyes may tell you something else. What’s that up ahead? Why that looks like Trafalgar Square! Right over there looks like Marble Arch Station (who knows, Gary P. Nunn may be there catching a train to get to a plane to take him “home with the armadillo”), and you’ll swear you also see Westminster Abbey. Dickens on the Strand transforms a Texas island into London for a weekend. It has also been a big part of The Strand’s—and Galveston’s—revitalization. Today, the downtown and port area teems with restaurants, shops, coffee houses, attractions, and most of all—almost every day of the week—thousands of people walking, looking, and all spending their dollars in a city that has become, once again, one of Texas’ most visited tourist havens. If you have never been to “Dickens on the Strand,” do yourself a favor and plan a trip but make plans early—hotels fill up quickly and it pays to scheme early!
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu; www.easttexashistorical.org.