Online tickets are now SOLD OUT! A limited quantity of walk-up tickets will be available in the Carriage House Gift Shop on October 7th only, beginning at 10am. Walk-up tickets are first-come, first-served due to capacity limitations at Victoria Mansion.

For the first time since 2017, our outdoor Victorian Fair will return to the Mansion lawn this October, with an “odd” twist! Join us for A Bizarre Victorian Bazaar: An Exhibition of Oddities and the Obscure. This one-day fair kicks off the Halloween season with an educational (and entertaining!) take on Victorian folklore, camera trickery, Spiritualism, and more.

Learn about how two girls tricked several newspaper readers into believing they had captured photos of fairies, how purported mediums conducted seances, and why some elite Victorians held mummy unwrapping parties. Have your palm read, create Victorian crafts, and much more! This fair will have activities and games for kids throughout the day. Plus, a visit from Charles Dickens, scenes from Portland Ballet’s Tales by Poe, and live music by the Shank Painters! We’ll also have the Pink Waffle food truck onsite for visitors who want to grab a bite to eat while they enjoy demonstrations and performances on the lawn.

This event is designed for visitors ages 8 and up. We encourage caregiver discretion for younger and more sensitive children.

Keep an eye on our Events webpage, and our Facebook and Instagram pages for more. A full schedule of events will be available onsite on the day of the event, and a preliminary schedule of events is listed below:

All-day entertainments & activities from 10am-4pm: crafts on the lawn (cyanotypes, dried flower bookmark-making, Cottingley Fairies booth); tea demonstrations and history with tea by Teafarers; patent medicine and soda history and demonstrations with Moxie historian Merrill Lewis; Ogham Staves demonstrations by Anna Halloran; tarot history and demonstrations by Ashley Gagnon of Clairvoyant Light; a Cabinet of Curiosities by Briar & Bone; phrenology history and demonstrations with Tom Kelleher; encounters with Charles Dickens; Victoria Mansion house tours featuring an exhibit of Victorian jewelry by Kaye McDevitt; Pink Waffle food truck in the courtyard.

Timed divination experiences inside Victoria Mansion: 10am-12pm: tarot & astrology with Heather Nichols; 12pm-1pm: palmistry with Sarah Coughlin; 1pm-2pm: pendulum energy readings with Gina Platt; 2pm-3pm: palmistry with Sarah Coughlin; 3pm-4pm: pendulum energy readings with Gina Platt. Please note: these timed experiences are first-come, first-served, and space is limited. Sign-ups are in-person only. Tarot & astrology demonstrations from 10-12 are drop-in, but space is limited to ~10 people at a time. Palmistry and pendulum readings will be available in 10-minute intervals, and sign-up sheets will be posted half an hour before each divination experience begins. Please plan your day accordingly. One divination experience sign-up per person please.

Timed performances on the Mansion lawn: 10:00am: live music by the Shank Painters; 10:30am: patent medicine “sales pitch”; 11:00am: phrenology demonstration by Tom Kelleher; 11:30am: live music by the Shank Painters; 12:00pm: performance of Tales by Poe from Portland Ballet; 12:30pm: mummy unwrapping by Savannah Irish; 1:00pm: performance of Tales by Poe from Portland Ballet; 1:30pm: live music by the Shank Painters; 2:00pm: phrenology demonstration by Tom Kelleher; 2:30pm: patent medicine “sales pitch”; 3:00pm: mummy unwrapping by Savannah Irish; 3:30pm: live music by the Shank Painters.

The Carriage House Gift Shop at Victoria Mansion will be open from 10am-4pm. Some tickets will be available on the day of the fair but may be limited! Advance registration is encouraged. All ticketholders will receive a stamp for re-entry in case they would like to leave and return later in the day.

Victoria Mansion will not be running regular tours on October 7th, but the house will be open for event attendees to tour.