DELAWARE — The city of Delaware is starting a new holiday tradition this year, and it is built entirely out of gingerbread, icing and candy. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has launched the inaugural City of Delaware Gingerbread House Competition, inviting residents of all ages to build and decorate their own gingerbread creations for prizes across several categories, according to Parade, which reported the city’s announcement on November 10.
The competition is open to everyone, whether they want to enter alone or work with family and friends, Parade reported. According to the city’s announcement, the event welcomes participants as young as five and adults up to 95 years old — a range the department summed up in its announcement: “Whether you’re 5 or 95, building solo or with your family, it’s time to get creative and show off your holiday skills!” the Parks and Recreation Department said, as reported by Parade.
There are five categories, so builders compete against their peers: Child (ages 5 to 8), Youth (ages 9 to 12), Teens (ages 13 to 17), Adult (ages 18 and older) and Family/Group, according to Parade’s report of the announcement. The city has confirmed that every category will have prizes, giving participants of different ages and skill levels a chance to take home an award.
The timeline is built for kitchen-table work. Registration is now open, but interested residents must sign up by December 6, according to ABC6, as reported by Parade. Once registered, participants will have from December 7 through December 10 to bring their finished gingerbread houses to the Mingo Park Recreation Facility at 500 E. Lincoln St., with entries due by 7 p.m.
Winners will be announced on December 12 during the city’s Cookies & Cocoa Carnival, Parade reported — and participants do not need to attend the event to win, which keeps the contest open to families whose December calendars are already full.
Delaware is tapping into one of the oldest holiday decorating traditions there is. Gingerbread houses have been part of Christmas celebrations for generations, made from baked gingerbread pieces assembled into buildings and decorated with icing, candy and other sweet treats. The tradition of decorated gingerbread houses became popular in Germany during the early 1800s, and some researchers connect their popularity to the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” which features a house made of bread and sugar decorations, Parade reported.
German bakers began creating their own decorated houses, helping establish a Christmas tradition that later spread to other countries, including the United States. Today, gingerbread houses come in many designs — while traditional versions look like small homes with candy-covered roofs and icing decorations, some builders create castles, churches, museums and other structures.
Competitive gingerbread building has its own national stage: the National Gingerbread House Competition began in 1992 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, Parade reported. Delaware’s version is deliberately smaller and closer to home — a first-year city contest where a five-year-old’s candy roof stands on the same table as a grandparent’s careful icing work.
The organizers are encouraging participants to gather their decorating supplies, including gumdrops, frosting and other colorful candies, and start planning their designs before the registration deadline, according to Parade. Residents can visit the City of Delaware Parks and Recreation’s official Facebook page for the competition announcement and registration information.
Holiday home traditions are having a moment across Ohio this season — in Northeast Ohio, Akron’s Sugar Plum Tour is turning 25 with a 1911 colonial opened for a good cause, while in Fairfield County, Lancaster Meijer employees have given to youth mental health and an animal shelter — different celebrations, built on the same idea of neighbors showing up for each other in December.
What happens next is simple and sweet: register by December 6, build at home, and deliver the finished house to Mingo Park between December 7 and December 10 by 7 p.m. Then, on December 12 at the Cookies & Cocoa Carnival, Delaware finds out whose gingerbread house takes the city’s first-ever titles.
For a first-year contest, the structure does a lot of quiet work: five age-based categories mean a kindergartner’s candy cottage is judged against other children’s work, not against an adult’s architectural showpiece, and the Family/Group category gives multigenerational teams — the way many Ohio families actually build gingerbread houses, around one kitchen table — a division of their own. Every category carrying prizes, as the city has confirmed, means the December 12 announcements at the Cookies & Cocoa Carnival will spread across the whole age range the contest was built for, from age five to ninety-five.
Photo: Thegreatmutata, CC BY