The Riverside Dickens Festival was established in 1992 when Carolyn Grant and Joan Patton convinced the Friends of the Riverside Library that the city needed a literary event. By sheer will and endless hours of hard work these two women and their committee made the first festival happen on a very warm weekend in September. Since then, the Riverside Dickens Festival has established its own board of directors, which raises funds and runs the event entirely with voluntary help. In 1994, the festival was moved to the first weekend in February to coincide with Charles Dickens’ birthday, February 7 (1812).

The festival has grown over the years in stature and significance to become a greatly anticipated family event. The major emphasis is on Charles Dickens and his writings, but Victorian era culture is also broadly embraced. A strong expansion of historical perspectives for the festival includes California and Riverside timelines paralleling Dickens’ life.