Gingerbread houses sit on a table Thursday evening inside the Clay Pathfinder building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. The entries depicted are ones in the "LCCC Individual" division.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — On Wednesday night, dozens of applicants ages 5 and up competed for the title of grand champion in Laramie County Extension’s 2023 Gingerbread House Contest.
More than 150 individuals and teams entered the contest across 13 divisions, said Kristi Nagy, 4-H Youth Development Educator, at the event. Nagy awarded a first-, second- and third-place ribbon to contestants in each division, which were organized by age. Each first-place winner also received gift baskets with goodies from event sponsors, which included the Cheyenne Fire Department, Prairie Pantry, Derby Club, Walmart and R&B Breakfast Club, among others.
Aside from the 13 winners in each division, one gingerbread house stood out among the rest and received the grand champion ribbon. The winning team, which came from the “Adult Team” division, was comprised of local residents Danny Burt, Jessica Burt and Sammie Smith. Their confectionary creation consisted of a cottage, a barn, a doghouse, a pond and several little candy dogs.
“The oven was on all day,” Danny Burt said. He added that it took a lot of trial and error to complete their gingerbread house.
From left: Sammie Smith, Jessica Burt and Danny Burt hold their first-place and grand-champion ribbons next to their gingerbread house Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.A close-up shot of the contest’s overall winning creation depicts a little candy dog, a cottage, barn, dog house and pond. Jessica Burt said their team’s theme was inspired by the fact that they own six dogs.A sugar pond is depicted on the grand-champion gingerbread house for Laramie County Extension’s Gingerbread House Contest on Thursday night. The pond was created from melted sugar, teammate Jessica Burt said.
The team of three used two to three batches of royal icing, half a bag of sugar and a whole ton of candy across three days to complete their winning creation. This was also the first gingerbread house they had ever made.
Below are images of just some of the overall entries from Thursday night’s event.
The first-place winner in the Gingerbread House Contest’s “Adult Individual” division is depicted Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.A gingerbread house featuring candy penguins in the “Adult Individual” division is depicted Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.The first-place winner in the 2023 Gingerbread House Contest’s “LCCC Team” division is depicted Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.Laramie County Community College sophomore Aleksia Johnson is shown holding her first-place ribbon for her creation in the “College Individual” division Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.Aleksia Johnson’s creation, an English bus, is shown Thusday night. Johnson said she has always wanted to go to England, which inspired the concept behind her winning gingerbread house.A ski lodge-themed gingerbread house is displayed on a table Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.A sugary version of Spider-Man is perched on gingerbread house roof adorned with peppermints and marshmallows at Thursday night’s 2023 Gingerbread House Contest at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. Dimitrios Chronopoulos, left, and Nia Trejo stand behind their first-place creation for the “College Team” division Thursday night in the 2023 Gingerbread House Contest at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. Chronopoulos said he and Trejo chose to base their creation on Oreos because he thought he could eat it after the contest.The first-place winner in the 2023 Gingerbread House Contest’s “Youth 11-13” division is depicted with its ribbon Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.The first-place winner in the 2023 Gingerbread House Contest’s “Youth 8–10” division is depicted with its ribbon Thursday night in the Clay Pathfinder Building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.
