A Dickens Holiday: A Unique Holiday & Shopping Experience is back for the 22nd year, complete with fun festivities in both November and December.
The event, presented by the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, attracts attendees from across Cumberland County and surrounding areas, all the while supporting Shop Local initiatives in downtown shops and through local vendors.
A Dickens Holiday always draws in big crowds as well as sponsorships from a variety of businesses.
The Event Partners include Piedmont Natural Gas, H&H Homes and Cape Fear Valley Health.
Supporting Partners are Truist (formerly BB&T), Fayetteville Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Cape Fear Eye Associates, P.A. and Systel Business Equipment.
Friends of the Arts include the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, First Citizens Bank, Holmes Security Systems, City Center Gallery & Books, Valley Radiology, Lumbee Guaranty Bank, ERA Strother Real Estate and Callahan and Rice Insurance Group.
Community Partners include the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and the North Carolina Arts Council.
This year, The Spirit of Dickens will take place on Nov. 19 and 20 and on Dec. 3 and 4. Downtown restaurants will have “festive feasts” and storefronts and windows will be decorated with Victorian holiday decorations. There will also be live performances from Michael Daughtry, David Nikkel, Coventry Carolers, Highland Brass Ensemble, and others.
As tradition goes, A Dickens Holiday will take place on Black Friday, Nov. 26, from 1-8 p.m. Attendees can stroll through through downtown Fayetteville, supporting local merchants and artisans, ride on a horse-drawn carriage or capture images for social media at a selfie station or with Dickens themed cut-outs.
H&H Homes will host their Gingerbread Community of Hope competition once again at Capitol Encore Academy.
Other forms of entertainment include musical performances, live chalk drawings and ballet excerpts from The Nutcracker, to name a few.
As part of A Dickens Holiday, Dickens After Dark will begin at 5 p.m. This part of the event will include the traditional candle lighting and singing of popular Christmas tunes.
To learn more, visit https://www.theartscouncil.com/
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Act 2 renovations began in April 2025. CFRT will be back in their 1209 Hay St. theatre for their first production of 2027.
Pictured from left to right: Entrepreneurial Impact Awards judging panel: Sara Ballard, Venus Durant, Greg Moore, Rebecca Sappington, Derrick McArthur, Faith Hatton and John Keen. In August, I was honored to be recruited to be one of six judges
Pictured left to right: Reddick R. Mack II, Collyn Strother, Tiffany Ragin, April Mata, Veronda Jones and Lauren Falls are all featured artists for the 26:26 Exhibit on display through the end of October. Photo by GFBJ.Black Artist Forward recently b
