This iconic Myrtle Beach Christmas show is back! See what’s new & how the magic happens
The weather may be unseasonably warm in the Grand Strand, but the holiday season is still coming. That means it’s time for the Dickens Christmas Show and Festivals, Myrtle Beach’s iconic holiday marketplace.
For its 43rd year, the Dickens Show will be open to the public from Thursday, Nov. 7 through Sunday, Nov. 10. Adults can grab tickets for $12, while kids’ entry is $5. Here’s what to expect from this year’s classic Christmas show.
Holiday shopping
Although Christmas is still a month and a half away, the Dickens Show lets visitors gather all the decorations they need for the holiday season and stock up on presents early.
“We’ll have everything you can think of, from junk to nice things to interesting things, signs, decorations,” said founder Myra Starnes.
With over 350 vendors offering gifts, jewelry, crafts, gourmet food, decor and more, the show offers something for all tastes.
Unlike other trade shows and holiday markets, the Dickens Christmas show has an unusual vendor dress code — sellers at each booth get decked out in Victorian attire fitting for the Dickensian event.
While some vendors get their old-fashioned costumes from more traditional outlets like thrift stores, others use decidedly more modern sources, like Amazon and AliExpress.
“Where do you get anything these days? Amazon,” said mystery author Carole O’Neill.
The writer and her husband Jim Eberwein, who authors children’s books, are Myrtle Beach locals who are dressing up to sell at the Dickens Christmas Show for the first time this year.
“I’m an old lady in the village. I have one of those hats and those big skirts that puff out with the white blouses,” O’neill said. “And he’s [dressed] like a news boy. He has a cap, he has a white shirt with a vest, and he has short pants, knee socks and buckles on his shoes.”
Silent auctions
In addition to booths, visitors have the chance to bid on custom items like themed Christmas trees, wreaths, centerpieces, holiday stockings and more in the event’s festivals benefiting charities. All of the proceeds from the auctions go to local nonprofit organizations like the Family Justice Center, the Kiwanis Club and Waccamaw Animal Rescue Mission.
This year’s assortment of Christmas trees, which benefit performing arts scholarships for children through the Sarah Bethany Foundation at Silver Lining School of the Arts, were decorated by local businesses, families and individuals.
The assortment ranges from traditional to wacky. Some of the more creative offerings include a Christmas cactus with a Toy Story western theme, a fire fighting-focused tree that comes with a pool table and a sunset-colored SkyWheel tree.
Victorian history
The Dickens Christmas Show wouldn’t be complete without its Victorian theme. From a 15-foot inflatable snow globe, which was invented in the Victorian Era, to an exhibit on how Victorian women used fans to communicate, this year’s event has plenty of history.
In addition to Victorian antiques like bicycles, strollers, high chairs and more, this year’s show will have a recreation of a Victorian bathing machine, complete with people in-character dressed in old-fashioned swimwear.
“Women could not swim where men could swim,” Starnes said. “There was no place to change clothes, so they made these.”
The carriages were carted out into the ocean and used to maintain modesty. Users could change into swimwear away from the beach and enter the water directly.
When Victorian swimmers were ready to call it a day, they’d wave a flag and the bathing machine was brought back into the water so they could change again.
“Once men and women could be together and things changed a bit, then they took [the wheels] off and used the huts to change clothes in, and people would rent them to leave their stuff in,” said Starnes. “And that was the first beach service.”
Holiday entertainment
New to the show this year is a barbershop quartet harmonizing around the convention center and musicians playing Victorian instruments.
Another holiday specialty at The Dickens Christmas Show will focus on global winter celebrations. Sponsoring not-for-profit organizations will offer specialty dishes from around the world and, like other nonprofits at the show, keep all of the funds raised.
Other attractions will include tea-leaf readers, puppet shows and shadow box displays.
No Christmas event would be complete without Santa Claus and this year’s Dickens Show will have plenty of old Saint Nick. Visitors will have the chance to meet and take pictures with Santa and his elves in the Santa Castle.
The show will also have a “Santa through the Ages” exhibit, featuring a display of life-sized Santas styled in different garb.
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 6:00 AM.