Shipshewana’s Gingerbread Houses
Could Go National
Photos Submitted
What at first started five years ago
as a simple and fun event for the town
now has the potential for national
recognition.
Yoder’s Shopping Center holds an
annual Gingerbread House Decorating Contest and display November
21 - January 2, with LaGrange County
residents submitting their work to be
judged. Winners were announced at
11 am on Saturday, December 10, at
Yoder’s Shopping Center, where prizes
of $500, $300, and $200 were awarded.
This year, world-renowned pastry
instructor Elizabeth Parvu, one of
three judges for the show, recommended that two of the gingerbread houses
be entered into national competitions.
“The work on these two pieces
are so neatly and precisely done, these
could easily compete on the national
level.
“I have a large international audience that listens to me so I have to be
very careful about what I say or whom I
recommend,” said Parvu. “I believe the
first place entry especially needs to be
seen other places.”
Guidelines for the judging include:
original design or theme; creative use
of materials; level of difficulty; structural integrity (no cracking; no leaning, etc.); overall appearance.
Non-professional bakers who live
in or around LaGrange County create
the gingerbread house entries.
Kathy Chester, Human Resources
Manager for Yoder Department Store
pg 34 · The Hometown Treasure · Jan. ‘12
and co-chair of the
event, said while
previous years have received a large number
of entries, this year
the number of participants was smaller.
“I would love to
see our entire hallway
filled with gingerbread
houses,” Chester said,
referring to Yoder
Shopping Center’s 280
foot hallway.
“The event is tied in with all the
monthly Christmas festivities Shipshewana hosts throughout the month
of December, and we want this to be
a fun, family-oriented project,” adds
Chester.
Also on Saturday, December 10,
Yoder’s Shopping Center participated
in the town-wide Kid’s Day festivities.
Kids could have their faces painted, create Christmas cards for American troops, watch model steam engine
trains, and view a life-size display of
Santa and his elves.
From 11 am to 1 pm, kids participated in a book signing by local author
and illustrator Rebecca Williams and
Hilary Burchett, respectively, titled The
First Snow of Winter.
From 9 am to 2 pm, Parvu created
gingerbread reindeer and Christmas
trees out of sugar
paste. Parvu owns
Sugarpaste in
South Bend, a company that manufactures and ships
sugar crystal colors
worldwide to cake
decorators and
pastry chefs.
Gingerbread House
Winner Announced
The winner of the Gingerbread
House making contest was announced
on Saturday, December 10. The winners
were duo Deniese Rickel from Orlund
and Marcia Leer from Huntertown.
Together they created “The Toybox.”
The winning gingerbread house,“The Toybox”.
Photo Submitted