Ah, Dorchester Day! This weekend while we’re enjoying our nostalgic civic and family events, approximately 5200 miles to the east in Dorchester, UK, folks will be celebrating their 6000-year-old heritage at roughly the same time.
The Dorchester across the pond may be one of the smallest county towns in England, but it’s chock-a-block with culture and history. Dorchester was an important town in Roman times (when it was known as Durnovaria), then became a thriving Saxon mint during the 10th century, before becoming a Roundhead stronghold during the English Civil War. Much of the town was destroyed by fire in the 17th and 18th centuries; most of the buildings visible today date from Georgian times.
The 2012 Dorchester Festival will run from June 1-5. Festival Artistic Director Sharon Hayden promises, “music and artists from the four corners of the world as an exciting prelude to the Cultural Olympiad events later in the summer. The Kawa Circus from Rajasthan and the Mighty Zulu Nation from Kwa-Zulu Natal will bring their breathtaking circus and pulsating African rhythms.”
Festivities will culminate in the performance of six decades of music to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
This Festival spans June 2, the birthday of the town’s most famous son, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), the author of novels like “Far From the Madding Crowd,” “The Mayor of Casterbridge” and “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.” Hardy’s works are set in the fictional County of “Wessex,” (based on the actual county of Dorset), all centered in “Casterbridge,” his code name for Dorchester.
Dorchester boasts more than one Thomas Hardy museum and restored former home. From August 18-26th, scholars will flock to the area for the 20th annual Thomas Hardy International Conference and Festival.
While Dorchester, MA does not (yet) have a Dennis Lehane Museum, it does attract thousands to the JFK Museum and Library, the Commonwealth Museum and Dorchester Historical Society homes. These are comparable to Dorchester’s Dorset County Museum which showcases local authors, history, natural history, art, archaeology, and paleontology.
However, our British counterpart boasts other tourist-magnet attractions as well. Its award-winning Dinosaur Museum includes fossils and skeletons from the nearby Jurassic Coast along with life-size reconstructions. The Teddy Bear House displays some of the earliest teddies right through rare contemporary collectibles and rooms with people-sized bears. The Terracotta Warriors Museum houses life-size replicas of the unique army of life-sized Chinese statues made for the megalomaniacal Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The Tutankhamen Exhibition recreates the sights, sounds and smell of the ancient Egyptian tomb and treasures of King Tut.
Sunday’s parade down Dot Ave. is usually quite a spectacle, but it could be mowed down by our country cousin’s opposite number. On June 23 and 24, the largest collection of World War II tanks and armored vehicles since D-Day –more than 70 WWII-era vehicles including over 20 original tanks– will convoy through the streets of Dorchester that were packed with apprehensive troops and vehicles headed for France 68 years ago.
WWII re-enactors and vehicle owners from around Europe will don period uniforms, carry weapons and equipment that would have been taken back in 1944. Dorchester was one of the major marshalling areas and embarkation counties for D-Day.
Maybe next June some of us Yankee Durnovarians can head over to Dorset to “represent” by entering the costumed four-legged pub race or marching in the Gigantasaurus Parade!
