Arts & Entertainment

High Spirits at the Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson on Saturday

Streets filled with characters, choirs and holiday cheer.

A call for drizzle and damp weather did not dampen spirits at the Port Jefferson Dickens Festival on Saturday as people descended on the village for some old fashioned Christmas magic.

Messages of Happy Christmas and scribblings about Scrooge were all over the brick façade of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in what turned out to be an unsanctioned activity. One visitor even posted a message on the walls from the Occupy Port Jefferson gathering.

Megan Hickey who came to the village from Rocky Point said that the weather reports didn't deter her from attending the festival with her neices and nephews. She watched as her neice Alexandra writing on the walls of the Music Hall of Fame building.

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Dickens is typically bigger than Black Friday for most downtown businesses. Over at The Secret Garden Tea Shoppe, owner Katie Poma said business had been good so far.

Lines were out the door at the Masonic Lodge to hear Scrooge’s housekeeper Mrs. Dilber tell all. Outside members were selling hot cider and roasted chestnuts.

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A new crepe and rice pudding shop called Sweet n’ Savory opened on Thursday just in time for Dickens. Smiling owner Ivan Albert was pouring batter for a packed house of customers on Saturday night. Albert, along with his wife Kimberly, also owns the Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices on Main Street. Editor’s note: The rice pudding was delicious.

The weather didn’t scare the O’Day family from treking all the way out from Manhasset on Saturday either. Bill O'Day and his wife Trisha came for the festival with their twins Rachel and Liam in tow for the second year in a row.

“It was very nice,” he said. “The magic show was a big hit.”

They come out to stay with his mother who lives in Stony Brook for the night and said they might be back on Sunday for the final day of the festival.

“It’s very festive,” said Mrs. O’Day. “It starts the holidays off with a bang.”

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story said the chalk graffiti was sponsored by the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. It was not. We apologize for the error.


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