PORT TOWNSEND — A village of gingerbread houses will be on display at Aldrich’s Market through Saturday.
This year, the town marketplace received 14 entries in the 21st annual gingerbread house contest.
“There are some cool ones. The little guys, their creations are very cute,” said Renee Fukuda, store owner.
Introducing a new vision of Christmas spirits, “Zombie Christmas,” by Davis Tyler, took first place in the “individual child under the age of 12” category.
Harmon Erikson’s “Gingerbread Village” won second place, and four children’s entries received honorable mentions; Zoey Doray, Noah Julia, Max Doray and Eva Brady.
In the “group under-12” category, “Gas Station,” by Sam Day and Cooper Day earned first prize.
Second place went to Maeze Kenny and Jenett Patrick for “Winter Wonderland,” and third to “Grandma’s House” by “Oma and Family.”
In the “over 12 and group” category, Carla Ellis’s entry, “Greenhouse and Garden: Longer Days Ahead” took first prize, Fukuda said.
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,” a gingerbread tower featuring the title princess, created by the Trail family, earned a second place finish and “First Hundred Years,” by Bob Goldburg and Karen Obermeyer, was awarded third place.
The gingerbread houses are required to be built using gingerbread dough, and crackers are not allowed.
Some of the entries seemed to have started with gingerbread house kits, and “improved,” while others appeared to be made from scratch, Fukuda said.
Entries were a bit down this year compared to the 17 entries in 2012, she said.
Employees of the store selected the winners.
Each of the store’s 17 employees ranked the entries numerically from their favorites up to their least preferred, and their votes were tallied. Those with the lowest final score were declared the winners.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
