NEW PALESTINE — The miniature replica of the old Mary M. Nichols building (Main Street building), along with the tiny red Gunn Farm and Jake’s Heating and Cooling all looked good enough to eat sitting inside the real and much larger Main Street building earlier this week.
The tiny replicas and many other building creations could, in fact, be gobbled up.
The buildings are made of gingerbread and other candies, and will be on display during Winter Fest Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m.
Officials with Winter Fest were expecting more than 20 different gingerbread creations by the end of the day Friday to be set up for people to check out during the “Home for the Holidays” Christmas event Saturday afternoon and evening.
The New Palestine Main Street gingerbread building, which looks just like the old Nichols building, was created by former Main Street member Mike Dean, who even went as far as adding a painting to the side of the gingerbread building just like the real building has. The gingerbread building even had little gingerbread people inside and out and was lined with white lights, just like the one on Main Street.
“There isn’t a contest here. We’re just having people make gingerbread houses so we can have them on display during Winter Fest for the community,” Winter Fest chair Erin Garvey said. “From what we have out so far, I think the community has come together and helped create an amazing display. Just looking at the Main Street building alone, it’s really good.”
One of the other eye-catching creations was done by the head of the town’s waste water treatment facility, Kyle Conner. He made a gingerbread waste water treatment plant complete with waste made of chocolate icing.
Conner’s wife, Kandice, who is part of the Main Street group helping put Winter Fest together, said her husband kind of grumbled some about making a gingerbread house, but then when he made up his mind what he was making, he was all-in.
“I have a shirt that says ‘I’m Mrs. Claus and I’m married to the Grinch,’” Kandice said with a laugh. “He grumbles a lot this time of the year, but last night he built this whole thing.”
The gingerbread sewer plant even has a few kid trucks and and a waste management truck on the display surrounding it.
“That’s our son’s waste water management truck,” Kandice said. “He even made drying beds, just like they have at the real sewer plant.”
Officials with Winter Fest say their goal, having the gingerbread houses for the first time this year, is for the community to enjoy and help get everyone into the holiday spirit, but because they’ve had so many people drop off gingerbread houses and talking about it, they might make it bigger next year and do a contest.
Someone even made a gingerbread house looking like the old Mattingly Shell gas station that used to be in town years ago. Still, others made good, old-fashioned gingerbread houses that looked good enough to pull apart and start munching on.
“Here at our local post office, they had a contest and they then gave us some of their gingerbread houses and they look really great,” Main Streets’ Julie Lucas said. “We think something like this is all just a lot of fun.”
Officials with Winter Fest wanted to give kids and families a reason to come into the Main Street building during Winter Fest and thought having the gingerbread houses on display along with some cookie-making stations would be an ideal little part of the much larger festival.
“We’ll have a few craft stations in here, too, and some photo ops inside for families,” Main Street member Katherine Kortz said. “This is the first annual gingerbread happening and we’re hoping it will be spearheaded and move forward next year and be bigger.”
