Friday Fun: Gingerbread House Competition

It’s the time of year that lots of folks spend family-time together creating Gingerbread Houses. Even if yours is not one of them, no doubt you will still be “WOWED!” by the entries at the 27th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition™. It was held on November 18^th at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC; and after the Awards Ceremony, the entries remain on display at the resort until January 4, 2020.

Over 220 people entered the competition this year, and employed everything from power tools, mechanical parts, melted sugar plus a huge dollop of imagination to craft their creations. The only rule is that at least 75 percent of the entry must consist of gingerbread, and it must ALL be edible. The judges actually check this! (I’m not sure I’d want to nibble on a project that’s taken months to create. But maybe that’s just me.)

The entries are judged by a panel of experts from the culinary, visual arts and media professions based on appearance, originality, difficulty, precision and consistency of their chosen theme. And there is $25,000 in cash prizes awarded to winners in different categories.

Here’s a very quick overview of a few of the entries:

So let’s take a more detailed look at the winners!

Grand Prize – and a check for $5,000 – went to Gail Oliver of Johnson City, TN for her creation, “The Water Hole”. While some projects took up to 600 hours of work, Oliver said she didn’t keep track – but it took several months!

Second place was awarded to Beatriz Muller from Innisfil, Ontario, Canada for her mind-boggling modern home design.

Third place went to a husband and wife team of Larry and Julia Vorpahl from Ellijay, Georgia for their Gypsy wagon in snow.

First place in the Teen Category was a collaborative effort by German language students at Courtland High in Spotsylvania, Virginia. And it’s the sixth consecutive win for the school! (Maybe they need to spend more time in the Language Lab and less in the kitchen. Just kidding!)

A sister duo, Sarah and Jenna Rhinehart from Columbia, Tennessee, took second place with their Vegetable Truck design.

But to show how tough the competition was, let’s take a look at some of the creations that did NOT win:

If this has whetted your appetite, here’s a much longer (8-minute) video of the competition:

(I should note that while there is no charge to view the Gingerbread Creations, the Resort charges $25 for self-parking and $30 for valet. But half of the parking proceeds will benefit local charities.)

Personally, I would award an Honorable Mention to Travis Casagrande’s “Gingerbread House” – which comes complete with a Christmas tree, snow-covered roof and even a wreath for the door.

But he would never qualify for this competition because there’s not a crumb of gingerbread in it. In fact, a crumb of gingerbread falling on it would be like an avalanche!

That’s because Casagrande, a research associate at McMaster University in Ontario, created the World’s Record TINIEST “Gingerbread House”.  It’s less than one-tenth the width of a human hair and is 20,000 times smaller than the average store-bought gingerbread house. Plus it’s half the size of last year’s previous record-holder for TINIEST Gingerbread House which was made in France.

Casagrande, at the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, used an ion beam microscope aiming charged gallium ions which acted like a sandblaster to forge his masterpiece out of silicon. It even has a door, windows and the logo for the university.

His creation sits on top of a winking snowman (which I think actually looks a little spooky) and then he placed a strand of hair next to it that looks like a felled birch tree.

The only YouTube video I could find for it is in Italian – but it’s still fun to watch.  Unfortunately it doesn’t load – maybe because it’s foreign.  But it’s only 43-seconds long, so here’s its Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMlkTUpieRs

 

And if you want to learn more about the technical aspect behind this incredible teeny, tiny home – check this site out:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7809861/Worlds-tiniest-gingerbread-house-smaller-human-hair-created.html