I am ecstatic to announce "Cottage on Snowflake Lane" won first place at the 2007 Strawbery Banke Candlelight Stroll Gingerbread House contest! I just received the certificate in today's mail along with a nice gift certificate to Sunday Brunch at the Sheraton Harborside. My niece Clara and I were not even able to attend the Stroll this year and vote due to holiday scheduling. Sorry I do not have pics of all the winners. What a terrific surprise for a rainy Friday morning. Thank you to anyone who did get the chance to attend and voted for our ode to blue candy. The cottage was taken to a local nursing home after the event to be on display through Christmas.
This was a record setting year with 43 gingerbread entries to the contest. The list of ideas was endless from the Portsmouth Harbor skyline to a tree house to a gingerbread wedding. Candy is really a fascinating building material. Brings out so many creative ideas.
Adult & Adult Group Category
First Place: Portsmouth Harbor Skyline - The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Realtors Group
"Only a group of Realtors could have made such a faithful recreation of Portsmouth's Market Street harbor, complete with salt piles, restaurants, Bow Street decks, townhouses, cars and people. They even provided a quiz to challenge viewers to locate each and every special feature of this astounding creation"
Second Place: Santa's Vacation Motor Home - Kathy J Brown, Methuen, MA
"Santa needs a break too! This entry was a very close second place. Visitors loved peeking through the windshield and side windows of this beautifully made gingerbread RV, and were rewarded by seeing a fully furnished, lantern-lit interior featuring kitchenette, sleeping area, driver's seat, and more Santa greeted guests under the canvas striped awning and seemed to be enjoying his vacation"
Third Place: Tree House - Jenny Isler and Julie Marvin
"This feat of engineering was possibly the most imaginative house of this year's collection. The multi-level gingerbread house was nestled amongst the twigs of a tall natural branch. Lights illuminated a carousel-shaped main house and a quit sleeping house in the clouds. Plenty of outdoorsy details like a rope swing and rope ladder completed the theme, and a chocolate moose wandered beneath the tree."
Professional Category
First Place: One Foggy Christmas Eve - Margot Doering, Martin Hill Inn
"Santa's sleigh is pulled through the fog by the red-nosed tug "Rudy" underneath Memorial Bridge. The bridge was shown in the raised position, no easy feat of gingerbread architecture!"
Youth Group Category
First Place: Gingerbread Barn for the Birds - Nature's Wonders early childhood program
"This charming entry included a barn, windmill and silo-all made of bird treats like millet, sunflower seed and peanut butter. After the display the house will really be "for the birds" as it is placed outdoors to attract winter feeders.
Second Place: Gingerbread Wedding - Ashley Seedy & Girl Scouts of Maine Cadette Troop #1464
"A crowd of gingerbread friends and family gather to watch a wintry wedding. The creative theme appealed to many"
Third Place: Winter Wonderland - Kelly Bridge, Andrea Lane & Brianne Ryan of Girl Scout Troop 229, Berwick Maine
"A large snowy scene full of activity"
Youth and Family Category
First Place: Cottage on Snowflake Lane - Shannon Aldrich, Clara Patience & Carolyn Spencer
"A neat and trim cottage that made excellent use of bright, icy-blue candies. The unusual color and careful execution of this house caught lots of attention. Lots of individually laid shingles and pavers gave it wonderful detail!"
Second Place: It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas (Bring Out the Lights!) by Hanz, Olivia, Ginger and Zak Berger
"This sizeable house was brought to life by the realistic theme of decorating for Christmas! A man teeters atop a ladder, hanging lights along the second floor roofline."
Third Place: Busy Beaver by Lilly Dissette (age 6)
"This sight of a little brown beaver tending to its cozy winter home charmed many viewers. A warm light glowed inside the beaver lodge, made convincingly of candy, pretzels and cereals to look like real twigs and branches."
Shannon Aldrich, Keller Williams Coastal Realty
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