Dickens Victorian Village opens its 21st season on November 1 and runs through January 1. Most coverage of those two months centers on the courthouse light show and the Saturday trolleys. A second, smaller calendar sits underneath them. Five ticketed workshops are scheduled for Thursday nights this fall. Each one takes place at the Welcome Center and Curiosity Shoppe at 708 Wheeling Avenue, costs between $25 and $45, and is led by a local maker or instructor. The only other Thursday event on the calendar, the November 12 Chocolate Walk, already shows as sold out.
Saturdays are where the Dickens season stacks up. Thursdays are where it stays small, and small means limited seats.
Five Thursdays at 708 Wheeling Avenue
Here is the Thursday lineup as listed on the Dickens Victorian Village events calendar:
| Thursday | Workshop | Led by | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 15 | Fire Cider Making | Mae & Jae Tea Co. | $40 |
| Nov. 5 | Beer Tasting & Bead Art | Stephanie DuBeck | $30 |
| Nov. 19 | Wine & Cheese Tasting | YOLO Winery | $25 |
| Dec. 3 | Learn to Make Cake Pops | Tammy Hill | $45 |
| Dec. 10 | Wreath Making Class | Tabby Thompson | $45 |
The first one is close. Fire Cider Making is on Thursday, October 15, just four days from now. Attendees make a batch of fire cider and learn its history, the herbs that go into it, and how it's prepared. The hours don't match across listings. The Dickens event page shows 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., while a YourRadioPlace listing shows 6 to 7:30 p.m. Check the ticket page for the current schedule. The other four workshops are each listed for 6 to 8 p.m.
The Beer Tasting & Bead Art evening on November 5 pairs a craft beer tasting with a bead art project. Stephanie DuBeck will also share some history of the Guernsey Brewhouse and the craft behind its beer. Two weeks later, YOLO Winery leads a wine and cheese tasting for $25, the lowest price on the Thursday list. December closes the series with two hands-on classes: cake pops with Tammy Hill on December 3 and wreath making with Tabby Thompson on December 10.
There is no Thursday workshop during Thanksgiving week. Across the October through December listings, these five are the only Thursday workshops on the calendar.
The Chocolate Walk shows how fast seats go
Ticket pages for these workshops show live counts. When we checked in October, each workshop showed fewer than two dozen tickets available. The ticket pages don't list total capacity, so a remaining count tells you how many seats are open, not how big the class is.
The clearest signal is the Chocolate Walk. It's a $25 evening stroll through downtown on Thursday, November 12, and it was already marked sold out when we checked the calendar this month. The Thursday workshops run on the same small scale. Anyone hoping to attend the wreath class or the YOLO Winery tasting is working against a short list of seats, not a big room.
Who's behind the Thursday table
All five Thursday events are led by people and businesses based in or near Cambridge. Most of them aren't downtown storefronts.
- Guernsey Brewhouse is a local craft brewery with a taproom and small-batch beers at 4550 Bloomfield Road in Cambridge, according to Visit Guernsey County.
- YOLO Winery lists its address as 6103 Fairdale Drive in Cambridge on its own site.
- Mae & Jae Tea Co. is a home bakery and tea shop in Old Washington that makes sourdough baked goods, herbal tea blends, and small-batch spices.
That's why the Thursday series works the way it does. A two-hour session at 708 Wheeling Avenue brings a Bloomfield Road brewery, a Fairdale Drive winery, and an Old Washington tea maker downtown for one evening each, in a room sized for a class.
Saturdays are where the season stacks up
The weekend calendar runs on a different scale. Several Saturdays carry four or five listings each, and the trolleys, carriage rides, and the Cambridge Glass Museum all draw on the same downtown blocks. Here is how the Saturdays and a few nearby days line up:
- Saturday, Nov. 7. The courthouse light show holds its opening night from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and marks its 20th anniversary this year, with more than 85,000 lights, a 23-foot tree, and 60 animated displays on the 1881 courthouse. The same day brings a kickoff at the Downtown Library with festive decor, light refreshments, and a vintage-themed craft for all ages. Carriage rides and a $5 cemetery tour are also on the schedule. At the cemetery tour, costumed actors portray Victorian-era residents at their graves.
- Saturday, Nov. 14. The Queen's Tea runs 1 to 3 p.m. at Cambridge Country Club, 60755 Southgate Road in Byesville. It costs $35 and serves a full English tea. That evening, the free Christmas Candlelight Walk meets at the Welcome Center from 6 to 7 p.m. for a stroll among the Dickens characters. Bring your own candle or lantern.
- Saturday, Nov. 21. The first trolley Saturday. Heated, wheelchair-accessible trolleys leave 708 Wheeling Avenue every hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the fare is $10. Dance instructor Everett McKee also leads an afternoon of Victorian-era line dancing, and period costume is encouraged.
- Friday, Nov. 27, and Saturday, Nov. 28. The Cambridge Glass Museum at 136 S. 9th St. holds a free Holiday Open House from 7 to 11 a.m. on Friday. On Saturday, Cambridge Main Street's Christmas Parade steps off on Wheeling Avenue at 5 p.m. Carriage rides start after the parade, at 5:45 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5. Little Dickens Day brings photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, a petting zoo, cookie decorating, face painting, and a scavenger hunt. The 2026 Steeple Walk includes 15-minute stops at four churches, among them 9th Street United Methodist and First Baptist.
- Saturdays, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19. These are the last two trolley Saturdays. Each also has a Victorian Tea from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Masonic Ballroom at 730 Wheeling Avenue, for $25 with reservations requested.
The two schedules fit together. The Thursdays give the season a weeknight rhythm of one small event at a time, and the Saturdays hold the big draws.
Planning a Thursday downtown
The November and December workshops are listed to end at 8 p.m., and the courthouse light show runs every night from November 1 through January 1. So the November and December sessions all finish while the courthouse lights are running. The light show is set to both traditional and contemporary holiday music.
For something before a workshop, The Brickhouse Social is a coffee and gathering spot at 709 Wheeling Avenue, according to Visit Guernsey County. The Zanesville Times Recorder profiled the coffeehouse in February and described it as built around history, community, and inclusivity.
Parking is simple. The Dickens Victorian Village FAQ says downtown street parking and lots are free and unlimited during the Christmas season. The planned Wheeling Avenue extension from Third Street to Steubenville Avenue won't get in the way this year. WHIZ reported in January that planning starts in 2026 and roadwork follows in 2027.
For updates on carriage rides, which depend on the weather, or to reserve a spot at the Queen's Tea, the Welcome Center's number is 740.421.4956. Thursday workshop tickets are sold through each event's "Get Tickets" page on the Dickens site.
Cory Neville's office is in Lancaster, but our work across Guernsey County keeps us close to calendars like this one, where a small room and a local maker set the pace. If you want to talk about the Cambridge blocks around Wheeling Avenue, or what's changing downtown before you plan a move, Cory M Neville is glad to help. Let's Connect.
