Last year we sincerely hoped that we would organize just one virtual Dickens Festival and that the COVID virus would be vanquished by November 2021. But alas, with the current surging of the Delta variant, it would not be safe to bring hundreds of people indoors in chilly November, jostling one another shoulder to shoulder at the typical Dickens Festival we know and love.

Although there is disappointment, there is also excitement about the opportunity to organize a virtual celebration of a “Dickens Festival Holiday Season” over a five-week period. The Season will begin on Sunday, November 14, and conclude on Saturday, December 18. During this time, All Souls Church will promote the “Dickens Festival Holiday Season” as an opportunity to shop on-line for unique handcrafted gifts from our network of Dickens artisans. If you decide to participate, you will be featured with other artisans on a page of the church website, with a link to your marketplace site or Facebook page. We want to gather a wide selection of goods to create an exciting on-line shopping experience for the general public.

With your donation of $15 or more, you will be listed as a Virtual Dickens Marketplace Artisan. You can also enroll as a Dickens Festival Season Sponsor for a donation of $25 or more and we will post a link to your business, a photo, and a message of support if you wish. Individuals are welcome to be sponsors as well.

Your financial support and participation in the Virtual Dickens Marketplace will help All Souls Church continue its legacy of social action in the wider community. All Souls has played pivotal roles in fair housing, LGBTQ rights and marriage equality and was at the forefront of founding Sustainable Braintree and the Braintree Farmers Market.

Your support will enable us to meet the ongoing preservation needs of our unique building - a Braintree landmark. Its 2015 listing on the National Register of Historic Places qualified it for grants from the Massachusetts Historic Commission and Braintree’s Community Preservation Committee to restore the chimney and leaded windows, but additional projects still need to be addressed.

In addition to the Virtual Dickens Marketplace, the Dickens Festival Holiday Season will feature Dickens Festival Baked Goods (including our famous APPLE PIES) offered for sale through the Market 2day app (https://www.market2dayapp.com/), an online raffle, and a virtual celebration on Saturday, December 18 will feature music, storytelling, Father Christmas, the raffle prize drawing and surprises.

We hope you will help All Souls Church keep the Dickens spirit alive by enrolling as a Dickens Marketplace Artisan or as a Dickens Festival Season sponsor, and we hope that we will see you in person once again at the 2022 Dickens Festival.

With appreciation for your participation,

Maggy Evans

for the Virtual Dickens Festival Organizing Committee