Home inspection: Gingerbread house competition brings community together

Published 12:16 pm Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Ella the Elf was the founder of the gingerbread contest named after her.

The prizes for the contest were:

$100.00 and a lava lamp for 1st place

$75.00 for 2nd place

$50.00 for 3rd place

The gingerbread houses were judged based on appearance, creativity and structural integrity, and Ella the Elf tasted the gingerbread houses.

Contestants were using kits as well as additional materials such as snowmen (peeps), gingerbread people, walls, bears, pretzel rods, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chips, smarties, red hots, sprinkles and extra icing.

Ten minutes into the challenge, a few people had already started decorating after finishing their structures. At 30 minutes left, chocolate pretzels were gone as well as marshmallow snowman and pretzel rods. With 15 minutes left, all contestants were rushing to finish decorating their houses. Putting on the roof seemed to be the hardest part of this challenge, as well as many other struggles for people. However, the end results were fantastic.

Due to roof hardships, a popular roofing style was a flat roof with a small roof attached. At 13 minutes left supplies, were gone, except for the gingerbread men.

At 10 a.m., the judging began. The judges were Ella the Elf, Athens High School’s mascot Elrod the Eagle, Athens Gas Department Manager Steve Carter and Athens Mayor’s Youth Commission member Cavaiani McNeill. Many people would say the judging went very well, and all the contestants got goody bags. The crowd was excited to do it again next year.

(Ages 5-7) winners

1st place Mahoney Lindsay

2nd place Pierce Causseaux

3rd place Team Oliver & Charlie Blaksley

(Ages 8-10) winners

1st place Hannah Shirley

2nd place Elizabeth Bell

3rd place Rylin Griffin

(Ages 11-13) winners

1st place Ella Grace Sampieri

2nd place Zoey Miller

3rd place Ivy Bahro