Bellefonte Victorian Christmas brings the theatrics

There’s something to be said for playing to your strengths.

For more than three decades, Bellefonte Victorian Christmas has made use of the area’s historic blocks of downtown Victorian architecture, capitalizing on the Dickensian symbiosis between Santa’s favorite holiday and everybody’s favorite “Christmas Carol.”

“Bellefonte is one of the best preserved of old Victorian downtowns around,” said Romayne Naylor, who is co-chairwoman of Bellefonte Victorian Christmas and the president of the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association.

Much like Tiny Tim himself, Bellefonte Victorian Christmas started small. Historic Bellefonte Incorporated asked downtown merchants to dress up their store windows with old-fashioned decorations, mock snow and candles in a show of holiday solidarity.

Eventually, members of the Bellefonte Historical Association seized the occasion and began performing live vignettes against the yuletide backdrop.

“It really grew from there,” Naylor said.

Now entering its 34th year, Bellefonte Victorian Christmas has grown into the equivalent of a theme park with a really great mall. It’s an immersive, almost theatrical, experience featuring carriage rides, an arts and crafts sale and the State College Community Theatre’s production of “Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol,” all sandwiched between Dec. 11-13.

Sally Houser, co-chairwoman, said that the weekend’s festivities usually brings anywhere between 7,500 to 8,500 people to Bellefonte.

“We have tons of people that come from all over the east coast,” Houser said.

Brochures are distributed throughout the state to catch the eyes of Keystone State natives and more than a few wandering tourists.

Naylor has met people visiting from as far away as Texas.

“I think that’s wonderful,” Naylor said.

It’s one thing to have guests — keeping them all entertained is something else entirely.

Fortunately, Houser has had a lot of practice. For years, she was the sole chairwoman of the event before bringing on a group of additional co-chairs to help lighten the load.

“Once an event gets to 25 years, it always needs to get freshened up a bit,” Houser said.

In the past, Bellefonte Victorian Christmas has worked with visiting theater groups to help create the event’s elaborate Victorian facade. This year, Naylor said that they wanted to keep the theatrics a little bit closer to home.

The State College Community Theatre entered stage left.

In addition to their production of “Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol,” actors from the group will also take a little bit of that Victorian atmosphere to the streets, strolling the sidewalks as Ebenezer Scrooge and other Dickens characters, stopping to sing or perform small skits.

“They really have taken off with it,” Naylor said.

The actors won’t be the only ones in costume. All of the vendors at the arts and crafts shows taking place in Bellefonte Middle School and the Bellefonte YMCA have been asked to wear Victorian garb.

Naylor said that the goal is to have 100 vendors between the two locations, selling a variety of goods that include jewelry, fine art prints, clothing, food and Christmas decorations.

James Dunne helped with the coordination of the arts and crafts show. He said that the assortment vendors hail from far and wide.

“We get them from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, West Virginia, New York,” Dunne said.

While much of what is on display will be geared specifically towards the holiday season, the show, with its menagerie of ornaments, candles and candy, might also be an opportunity for some last minute shopping.

“A lot of these things are very useful for Christmas gifts,” Dunne said.

Hidden in between some of the more grandiose events are smaller pleasures like carriage rides, a gingerbread house contest and live music by groups like the Bellefonte Community Band.

The annual “grand finale” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13 in Bellefonte High School Theatre and feature the entire cast of “Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol,” the street walk-about characters and various musicians.

Still, the most important element of Bellefonte Victorian Christmas may be a tad less theatrical.

“It’s an old-fashioned family Christmas. You see families on the street together having a good time,” Naylor said.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Bellefonte Victorian Christmas brings the theatrics."