Calling all decadent designers and candy-based creators.
The Okotoks Art Gallery (OAG) has put out the call for submissions for the Gingerbread Station contest.
From Nov. 17 to Dec. 9, the gallery will display the cavity-inducing creations for the public to vote on.
“It makes the gallery smell amazingly like gingerbread for about six weeks, which is my favourite part,” said gallery assistant Katrina Lougheed.
“I love seeing the creativity that people have when they look at a pan of gingerbread cookies and think, ‘I’m going to make a pirate ship out of this’ or ‘I’m going to make a yeti cave’ or something just absolutely mind-blowing."
The deadline for entry forms is Nov. 11, and entries must be dropped off at the Okotoks Art Gallery by Nov. 16.
Interest has grown in the six years the contest has been running, Lougheed said, as bakers young and old dust off their rolling pins.
“The word got out and people started loving coming in to vote for it,” she said. “And everyone comes in and sees it and says, ‘I'm going to join next year,’ and next year we get more and more participants and people coming back just to vote, because they love seeing the gingerbreads.”
Youth entrants are allowed to use a kit, which they must procure it themselves, but few leave it at that.
"Just the amount of creativity that everyone starts with the same kit, but they turn out completely different no matter who brings them in,” Lougheed said.
One of her favourites over the years was a ‘Ninja Bread’ house, with ninja gingerbread people.
Everything in the display must be edible, and nothing electronic can be used.
That said, after weeks on display, the gingerbread is more likely to chip a tooth than give cavities.
Judging by past creations, participants certainly amuse themselves with their displays, and prize money is just icing on the house.
This year, prizes for adult entries are $100 for first, $75 for second and $50 for third, and for youth, the prizes are $75 for first, $50 for second and $25 for third.
For more information, as well as rules and regulations, visit okotoks.ca/gingerbread.
Correction: The original article incorrectly stated that the gallery was providing kits. While youth entrants are allowed to use kits, but they must supply their own.
