The Dickensian Evening is Wantage’s big night of the year. The Market Place and the streets around it close to traffic, the Christmas lights are switched on, and the town centre fills with carols, theatre, music, Morris dancing, market stalls and shops staying open late. It is Victorian-themed and free.
It is usually on the first Friday in December, from 4pm to 9pm. In 2026 that is Friday 4 December.
What happens
- The Christmas lights switch-on by the tree in the Market Place, in the early evening (6pm in 2025).
- A stage in the Market Place with music, a show by Jigsaw Stage and communal carol singing, and more music on Newbury Street.
- Morris dancing around the town centre.
- Stalls, mulled wine and mince pies, and shops, cafés and pubs staying open late, many with festive extras.
- At the Parish Church in 2026: Wantage CE School’s KS1 pupils sing festive songs at 5.30pm, then stalls from 6pm to 9pm with mulled wine, mince pies, hot chocolate, a chocolate tombola, craft, gift and bric-a-brac stalls, a bookstall and a Friends of Wantage CE hamper stall. There is also a quiet reflection space and a candle-lit nativity.
- At the Vale & Downland Museum in 2026, from 4pm to 9pm: live music from the Hendred Ukulele Group and Greengage, a tombola, market stalls in the barn gallery, the coffee shop and gift shop, and Father Christmas from 4pm to 8pm (£6 per child, book online in advance; children must be with an adult).
The organisers have published the church and museum plans for 2026; the main stage programme and the lights switch-on time are still to come. We add them here as soon as they are out.
