Middle Tennessee Dickens of a Christmas festival to open, mark 38th year this weekend

Middle Tennessee’s largest Christmas festival is set to return to historic downtown Franklin this weekend.

The Victorian-themed Dickens of a Christmas festival got its start in 1985 and features several live performances as well as shops and food stands.

Named after popular English novelist Charles Dickens, the festival spotlights characters from some of his most popular books including, “A Christmas Carol” and “Oliver Twist.”

Dickens is considered one of the most popular English authors to have ever lived and his book, “A Christmas Carol” is said to have sold over two million copies. He was born in 1812.

Festival attendees can expect to hear live music from singers like Braxten Allen and Jordana Bryant and groups, including the Williamson County Community Choir and the Franklin Brass Quartet.

There are two festival stages with live performances planned throughout the weekend.

Main Stage Entertainment, presented by Nissan USA, will be located closest to City Hall and the Acoustic stage, presented by Lipscomb University, can be found right off of Second Avenue and Main Street.

For those looking for more things to do, there will be a mini 19th century cricket game happening in the Simmons Bank Parking lot and holiday movies showing at the Franklin Theatre.

The festival is planned from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. A full list of vendors, activities and performance schedules can be found at Williamson Heritage’s website, https://williamsonheritage.org.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle Tennessee Dickens of a Christmas Festival to open this weekend