The Daily Explorer #7: The Great Dickens Christmas Fair
By Emi Gruender
[INSTALLMENT 7]
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Cobbled streets and Victorian storefront windows. A ballroom full of swishing ball gowns and neatly trimmed waistcoats. A full four acres of recreated Victorian England returns annually at the Cow Palace in Daly City—The Great Dickens Christmas Fair. 2024 marks this prestigious fair’s 40th return—affectionately dubbed the “Ruby Jubilee!” Complete with puzzle hunts, delicious Victorian-style food, theatre, orchestral displays, and a ballroom that any guest may participate in, the Great Dickens Christmas Fair remains an annual tradition for Dickensian history-lovers.
This installment, fellow writer Kathryn Tanaka will be joining me to don cardigans and petticoats and step foot back into 1850s London to walk alongside iconic characters from Dickens’ greatest novels. Certainly one of my favorite trips with the Daily Explorer so far: make sure to check out the newly-added vlog, too!
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Welcome back travelers, to The Daily Explorer. In this series, I travel (often with Journalism guests) to interesting entertaining places within the Bay Area. With these accounts, I hope to inspire the readers of The Shield to explore their hometown and demonstrate that there’s always something new to explore.
Keep an eye out for some of your favorite writers from The Shield, as some may accompany me on these adventures in the future. If you have any favorite places, restaurants, parks, etc, please email me at emi.gruender@gmail.com to issue a recommendation. Your name and input about the place in question will be credited.
Without further ado, buckle up and enjoy the blog-style ride of The Daily Explorer!
Sunday, December 1
10:03 am, You Built A Time Machine out of Kathryn’s Mother’s Car?
Join Emi Gruender and Kathryn Tanaka‘s Daily Explorer Adventure!
Aydin Akyol and Camilla Gelacio travel all the way to Los Angeles for Camp Vlog Gnaw
Join them in their video-adventure down below!
Watch Out — the New Cafeteria is Officially Open!
Fun Facts!
By Sophie Tuan
- Earth is closest to the sun during winter.
- Having decorative evergreen trees is an ancient tradition dating back to the Romans and Egyptians.
- Initially, Christmas pudding was made with meat instead of fruit.
- The tallest snowman in history was 122 ft tall.
- Winter lasts for 21 years on Uranus.
- Santa Claus has his own postal code in Canada (HOH OHO). Children who send letters to Santa will receive a handwritten letter from Santa back through Canada’s Santa Letter-Writing Program.
- “Jingle Bells” was originally a Thanksgiving song.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was almost Reginald or Rollo.
- 85% of American children believe in Santa.
- The Grinch (the animated one) is the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time; the second is Home Alone.
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This Day in History, January 6
By Nadia Rivas
1838- Samuel Morse presents the first telegraph to the public.
1907- Maria Montessori opened her first school that groups children in a multi-age classroom based on their development stage, rather than chronological age.
1912- German scientist Alfred Wernger presents his theory of continental drift
1929- Mother Teresa arrives in India
2000- Congress certified George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election
2021- Large group of Trump supporters riot at the Capitol following the 2020 election
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