The annual Dickens on the Strand event is another casualty of 2020.
Photo courtesy of Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau
Another beloved local holiday tradition is a victim of 2020. Galveston’s Dickens on The Strand events have been canceled this year, according to a statement from the Galveston Historical Foundation. The Dickens on The Squares events were scheduled for December 4 and 5.
The cherished holiday event has celebrated all things Dickens and Victorian for more than 46 years in downtown Galveston, showcasing ornate costumes, lively music, and period architecture. However, the foundation’s board of directors voted to cancel the 2020 event, citing the increase in local, regional, and state numbers relating to COVID-19, per a press release.
Looking forward, the festival is expected to return to its normal layout and schedule December 3-5, 2021. Ticket holders will be contacted with refund information.
“The decision of the board and staff simply skips a year in our long history of producing this world-renowned festival,” said Dwayne Jones, Galveston Historical Foundation’s executive director, in a statement. “Each December, Dickens celebrates our Victorian heritage on the island and salutes one the great Christmas stories of the English language. We promise to be back next year with a fresh perspective on our holiday tradition and a healthy event for all.”
This comes after two major holiday events in Galveston were canceled due to the pandemic this week. The Knights of Momus Grand Night Parade, Coronation and Ball nixed their event for 2021. Following suit, Tilman Fertitta called off his over-the-top Salute to San Luis soiree due to coronavirus concerns.
Few people are strong enough to resist the lure of Girl Scout cookie season every year, with the cookies’ limited availability and unique flavors a strong incentive to indulge. But only the girls and their families who have sold the cookies know the joys and stresses of trying to get people to buy them, a process that is detailed in the new documentary, Cookie Queens.
The film by documentarian Alysa Nahmias uses the stories of four different girls to represent the nationwide ritual for the Girl Scouts. They include 12-year-old Olive in Charlotte, North Carolina, a longtime top seller; 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso, Texas, who wants to earn the reward of going to camp; 5-year-old Ara in San Diego, California, whose goal is modest compared to most other girls; and 9-year-old Nikki in Chino, California, who has to compete with her older sisters in the cookie-selling bonanza.
The girls represent a cross-section of both ages and backgrounds, with some girls coming from wealthy families and some girls dealing with more limited means. And how much money your family has makes a big difference, as not only does someone richer have more freedom with their time and supplies, but all scouts are required to reimburse the organization for every box they take in, regardless of whether they’re able to sell it or not.
That caveat makes the journeys of the four featured girls feel wildly different. It’s clear from the start that Olive and Nikki’s families don’t give a second thought to the personal economics of selling cookies, with each girl taking in thousands of boxes at the beginning of the six-week selling season. With both Olive and Nikki rightfully confident that they’ll have no problem offloading their supply, their stories turn to how selling is personally affecting them, with each trying to reconcile the fun of doing it with the pressure they feel from their family members.
Shannon Elizabeth’s story is more harrowing, as her parents feel a strong desire to help her accomplish her lofty goal, but worry that the cost might literally be too high for the family as a whole. More than once, the parents are shown fretting that they won’t have the money to pay back what they owe should they fall significantly short in their sales. Their selling approach, which includes walking through an empty swap meet and standing outside a chain restaurant at night, only adds to their stress.
The most fun story to watch is that of Ara, whose innocence is matched by her confidence. Her parents teach her how much money they’ll owe with her small goal of 55 boxes, but right away she takes on more responsibility than expected. She’s shown making sales pitches and tallying the total number of boxes she’s sold with little-to-no help from either her mom or dad. With her high voice, glasses, and a monitor on her arm to manage her diabetes, she becomes the cute and sympathetic part of the film.
There are times that the film starts to feel more than a little manipulative, however. While many of the moments documented come off as organic, some of them seem like Nahmias is actively guiding the participants in order to get a better story. This is especially evident with Shannon Elizabeth and her family, whose early struggles turn into a miraculous feel-good story by the end, a turnaround that seems implausible at best. Everything with them might have been aboveboard, but Nahmias and her team edit the family’s journey in a way that pushes a bit too hard for emotion.
Cookie Queens, which was produced by a company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, helps to give insight into the business of selling Girl Scout cookies for those who’ve only been on the purchasing end of the transaction. The dedication of each girl toward selling their allotted supply proves fun and interesting, even if the filmmaker tries to gild the lily on occasion.
