By Andrew Hackmack
The Valley Stream Historical Society hosted its annual gingerbread contest, and many residents stopped by to vote for their favorite design.
This year there were 17 entries, a good turnout, according to event organizer Karen Selah. There were houses big and small, a gingerbread village and even a gingerbread truck.
It was the truck, created by Valley Stream resident Libby Gray, that captured first prize. Gray is a rock music lighting technician, and modeled the truck after a big rig driven by one of her co-workers. She said he spends 10 months of the year on the road, and during that time calls the truck home. "If he lives in it, that qualifies as a house, doesn't it?" she said.
Gray estimated that she spent about 14 hours over the course of two days putting her gingerbread creation together. The first three hours, she said, was spent measuring and calculating so she could get the truck as close to scale as possible.
She was a first-time participant in the gingerbread contest, having found out about it by reading the sign in front of the Pagan-Fletcher house and thinking it would be fun to enter. Gray won't be eating her creation anytime soon. "I think I'm going to use it as a centerpiece," she said.
Girl Scout Troop 2281 took second place, and Danielle DebŽ garnered the third-highest vote total. Breanna DebŽ, age 4, and Paige and Rylan Smith, 6 and 3, took home honorable mentions as the contest's youngest participants.
Selah said the competition's only rule is that most of the composition of each house should be edible. She said that the entries are very good every year. "I'm really glad I don't have to make the decision," she added.
Girls from Troop 2218 built a gingerbread village consisting of three houses and a sleigh. The girls said that because troop members come from several different communities, the village was created to symbolize their unity.
It took them about four hours to build, the girls said. Alexandra Stelluto, Amanda Johnson and Morgan King represented the troop on Sunday, and said they were proud of their accomplishment. "We like it all because of how it all came together," said Morgan.
One of the houses is covered on top with pretzels, which solved a structural problem. "The roof kept collapsing, so we had to support it with other things," Amanda explained.
Dorothy Hollman, a niece of historical society President Marge Chvatal, gave a gingerbread house decorating demonstration. She helped children decorate four houses, and taught them how to fill a decorating bag with icing.
Hollman provided the children with lots of candy to choose from as they spiced up their gingerbread homes. "There is no right way or wrong way to decorate a house," she said. "Just have fun."
Comments about this story? AHackmack@ liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
