The Queens County Museum in Liverpool reopens this weekend with its popular annual event Dickensville and the Festival of Trees. (Rick Conrad)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Liverpool, with multiple events planned for the historic Astor Theatre and the rest of downtown Liverpool this weekend.

Last weekend’s popular 14th annual Liverpool Fire Department Christmas Parade kicked things into seasonal gear.

The South Queens Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the Queens Holiday Festival on Saturday. That includes a tree lighting in front of the Astor at 5 p.m. with Christmas carols, and a free multicultural holiday concert inside the Astor at 5:30. 

Earlier in the day, local businesses will be participating in the Christmas on the Mersey food crawl and holiday shopping party.

On Sunday at 7 p.m., the 93rd annual Kiwanis Community Christmas Concert gets underway at the Astor. That event is sold out.

Local businesses are also decorating Christmas trees in the park on the Liverpool waterfront and at the Queens County Museum. 

And the museum will be open extended hours on Saturday as it unveils its popular Festival of Trees and Dickensville.

Festival of Trees and Dickensville courtesy of Queens County Museum

The Queens County Museum is celebrating Christmas like it’s 1999, or thereabouts.

For the past couple of decades, the museum has marked the holiday season with the Festival of Trees and Dickensville displays.

The Festival of Trees showcases over 35 trees, each with different decorations or themes and placed around the museum while Dickensville features scale model recreations of the people and places from Charles Dickens’ novels.

Director Linda Rafuse says after being unable to welcome visitors in during the pandemic they’re excited to continue the tradition once again.

“We’ve been doing this exhibit for so long now, with our two learning trees that we’re now having some of the children that we told this story to many years ago are now bringing their children in to hear the story of the Legend of the Christmas Spider,” said Rafuse. “That’s just so heartwarming.”

Rafuse says the local elementary school classes will be filing in over the course of a week in December to experience the stories and displays for themselves.

The displays are open to the public seven days a week for no charge, but the museum gladly accepts donations.

In fact, for the first time the Queens County Museum is hosting a Christmas wreath auction as a fundraiser.

Wreaths are posted online at the Queens Museum Christmas Wreath Auction Facebook page and people can bid in the comments.

Winners can pick up their wreaths after bidding closes at 4pm on December 4.

The Festival of Trees and Dickensville will be on display until 5pm everyday until the museum closes for Christmas on December 23.

Rafuse says anyone looking to jumpstart their Christmas joy should make a point to drop by.

“If you’re not in the spirit of Christmas yet, come into the Queens County Museum because when you leave, you will be.”

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