Meet the Marin family behind the Great Dickens Christmas Fair

The Pattersons know how to throw a party. It’s a thread that has connected now three generations over the years, continuing a long, vibrant history that began when the late Ron and Phyllis Patterson created the concept of the modern Renaissance Faire in 1963, which they later brought up to Marin.

But, for their son Kevin Patterson, he’ll never forget the magic he felt as a 10-year-old boy seeing his parents’ other creation, the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, come to life in San Francisco in 1970, being swept back into a different time and seeing an array characters come to life.

It’s an experience that the Novato resident has been honored to carry on, producing the Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party for more than 20 years with his wife Leslie through their Red Barn Productions, with involvement from other family members along the way. After a hiatus, they helped bring the fair back to life in 2000 and find its home at the Cow Palace.

Come get a glimpse into what Charles Dickens’ Victorian London might have looked like at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party through Dec. 17 at the Cow Palace in Daly City. The holiday event will feature Victorian theaters, pubs and dance halls, more than 450 costumed characters — from Father Christmas to the Ghosts of Christmas to Lewis Carroll characters — puppet shows, sword swallowing, more than 100 shops and carts, an array of food offerings and much, much more.

Patterson took the time to talk about this annual holiday event and what it means to him and his family.

Q The fair took a hiatus before finding its home in the Cow Palace in 2000. Did you feel a sense of responsibility to find a way to bring it back and keep it alive?

A Yes. We definitely did. We had also chosen to bring back a small Renaissance fair and produced that at Stafford Lake Park for four years. It was too difficult with the weather in July. It was a very warm couple of seasons, and so it just became too unpredictable. But we have always felt like the art form of theatrical living history deserved to have a future, and at the same time we wanted to honor that deeply artistic and rich family legacy.

Q What was it like growing up in that world?

A I went to school in both Los Angeles and in Marin County because we produced fairs in both areas of the state. We started living in Marin County in the ’70s. It was one of the best ways to grow up. My mother and father really did more than create events. They created a small town that was just like Brigadoon because it came to life magically and then would recede back into the mist. And in this small town were my friends, family and extended family. The artists, crew and staff became my aunts and uncles. I had a wealth of excellent mentors and being involved in doing something together like that was really artistic and special. I know that I benefited from that. And my wife, Leslie, and I are very fortunate to have raised our two sons, Andrew and Michael, in the same way.

Q When did your interest in Dickens and Victorian London begin?

A The very first experience with the time period and with the works was when I was 10 years old. I was aware of the colorful characters and the magic of London almost simultaneous with being aware of what life in the larger world was like. Being in the environment of the Dickens Fair at the old Anchor Works in the Embarcadero in San Francisco, where it was foggy and the buildings were filled with chimney sweeps and jugglers, was wonderful. I was very enthralled with it in the same way as I was enthralled with the city of San Francisco itself. We moved to San Francisco right around the same time. The two became sort of inseparable in my mind. All of the Victorian buildings in San Francisco merged in my imagination with the theatrical environments of the Dickens Fair and all of the characters. So it was just a deeper experience of the Victorian world that my parents created for everybody who came to the Dickens Christmas Fair in the early days, and that magic continues today at the Cow Palace.

Q What inspired you to get into producing events?

A Growing up in it. It’s in my blood. My parents started producing the first Renaissance Faire in America, which they invented in 1963. And their company was called Theme Events Ltd. There were no theme events. They kind of invented them. The Dickens Christmas Fair grew out of that company as the second most popular event that they produced. And so I grew up in the business and learned it from the inside, took over from my parents. And then my wife joined me in the business. Now our son, Andrew, is the general manager and our other son, Michael, has been involved a lot as well. My brother, Brian, is the world-class puppeteer at the fair that does the Punch and Judy shows and we have this marvelous extended family of theater professionals and artists. It’s like 11 days of Thanksgiving for us. Our entire family comes together not just around the table for the holidays.

Q What inspired you to choose the name Red Barn Productions?

A There was a giant red barn out at the Black Point Forest in Novato, where we did the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. It had been converted into a theater, and we had shows that we produced in the old red barn. And it was also the props and costumes facility over the Renaissance fairs. It was very near and dear to all of our hearts who worked at those events year after year. We used to have our company parties and shows in there as well on the Saturday nights after the fair. So we wanted to keep that memory alive and named our company after the wonderful old red barn where we had those shows and all of those fantastically fun gatherings.

Q Who’s your favorite Dickens character?

A The Ghost of Christmas Present. He’s the jolly, tall man who carries the torch and who whisks Ebenezer Scrooge back to the party that was being organized for all of the warehouse workers by his employers. And he gets to see his sweetheart now out on the dance floor and is given the vision of what his life might have been like if he had not been shy and joined the dance. And I feel like I have been given the opportunity to join the dance throughout my entire life. In seeing the Ghost of Christmas Present is a wonderful reminder of the notion of living for today.

If you go

What: The Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party

Where: Cow Palace, 2600 Geneva Ave., Daly City

When: Through Dec. 17; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends; as well as 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday

Tickets: $25 to $45; children under age 5 are free

Information: dickensfair.com