Jeanne Garant: Dickens Festival Brought the Community Together

Her father's love of Dickens and the need of the quaint town of Port Jefferson to stimulate its downtown during the winter months inspired Jeanne Garant to establish the  fifteen years ago. This year, Garant is being honored at Friday night's Crystal Ball for he part in making the festival a success.

The key element that Garant always comes back to is of community. The Dickens Festival helped residents, storeowners and tourists alike to meet in homes, churches and businesses in a way that they'd never done before. It was a way to teach people about the long an storied history of the town, one that stretches back to a time when Charles Dickens himself was writing his tales.

Garant said that she wants the town to think of the Dickens Festival not as a legacy but a gift.

Watch , , and of our interview with Jeanne Garant, founder of the Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson.