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During the holiday season, some families attend the annual tree lighting in downtown Syracuse or the Festival of Trees & Light at the Everson Museum of Art. Others donate their winter gear to local charities or go ice skating in Clinton Square.

But for Jane Verostek and her two daughters, Octavia and Minerva Miller, the Gingerbread Gallery at the Erie Canal Museum is what stuck.

“It’s been a way for me to keep a tradition going with the kids for all these years no matter what’s going on,” Verostek said.

This winter, the 39th annual Gingerbread Gallery features 47 houses on display from Nov. 22 through Jan. 12, 2025. The museum staff arrange set pieces resembling an 1800s Erie Canal town marketplace. Mimicking a bustling downtown, the gingerbread houses are created by community members.

The gallery started as a gingerbread house auction in 1986 to raise money for the museum’s public programs. It’s since grown into a community exhibition, where locals show off their baking talents. Bakers of varying skill levels build houses and present them in mock storefront windows in the museum.

Brycen Pace | Asst. Photo Editor

A yeti cookie covered in icing stands next to a similarly decorated Christmas tree. The gingerbread house represents Santa’s Castle in the North Pole.

With winter being a slower time for museums, the Gingerbread Gallery helps fund many of the Erie Canal Museum’s other programs, Steph Adams, the museum’s director of interpretation, said.

Adams said the museum is a gathering place for the community during the holiday season. As families grow and expand, new generations come to see the Gingerbread Gallery.

“It’s really sweet hearing kids come in here and being excited. It brings me a little bit of joy while I’m working,” Adams said.

Some houses are just for show, but participants can enter their gingerbread creations into competitions, including youth, general and senior competitions.

The museum also holds a competition for the best Erie Canal-related gingerbread house. With the bicentennial anniversary of the canal coming up in 2025, this year’s competition is especially memorable, Taylor Westerlund, the development and communications manager at the museum, said.

Bakers and museum workers start preparations early. During late August and early September, the museum sends out a form of intent to determine the anticipated number of houses.

Museum workers start putting together the gallery in October. Bakers complete the houses by early November so workers can start decorating and setting up the room for display.

Brycen Pace | Asst. Photo Editor

Piping covered in sprinkles and gingerbread house decorated in various candies are displayed at the Erie Canal Museum this holiday season.

The gingerbread houses aren’t like the store bought ones with instructions and pre-made materials. Some participants plan their ideas a year in advance, Westerlund said. People from across the state come to see the extravagant creations. Busy years see around 6,000 people total, he said.

The gingerbread houses reflect an assortment of community values, ranging from history to movies to music. Houses this year recreated scenes from the Wicked movie and the Nutcracker. People get creative with the materials used. One house used Andes Chocolate Mints as roof shingles, while another created snow from shredded coconut.

“This is a really great opportunity for people to be creative and let their minds and imaginations run wild,” Westerlund said.

Some participants use things other than candy. One historical home featured blue aluminum foil to mimic the shimmering frozen canal.

After Verostek had her two daughters, she thought the Gingerbread Gallery could be a fun activity for them to do together each year. Every year after Thanksgiving, it’s customary for them to see the gingerbread houses.

The Verostek family’s gingerbread houses are always inspired by a movie. In years past, they’ve done “Inside Out,” “Ice Age” and “Shrek,” using dehydrated vegetables to create the swamp outside the ogre’s home.

Verostek often tells her daughters that making these gingerbread houses is “making something from nothing.” They start from scratch and end up with an intricately detailed house.

Brycen Pace | Asst. Photo Editor

Gingerbread houses made by friends and families of the Syracuse community stand in the Erie Canal Museum’s windows.

In their 15th year participating, Verostek and her daughters recreated a scene from the movie “Up,” with Carl and Russell outside the house. The family used figurines for the two characters and Dum Dums for the balloons coming out of the chimney. Each house exhibits its own sense of personality, Verostek said.

“The holidays are a time of year when you reflect on what’s important to you,” Westerlund said. “For a lot of people, that’s their family.”

Despite challenging moments, creating a house for the gallery has lived on as a constant tradition for Verostek and her family. She’s found joy watching the gingerbread houses evolve as her daughters do. Every year, her daughters ask her what they’ll make for the gallery and hopes to continue participating even when the girls go off to college.

While the family’s other holiday traditions have fizzled out over the years, Verostek said this is the best one out of all of them.

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your life or what good or bad things are happening, we can take a moment and be like, ‘OK, we’re going to do this gingerbread house together and come together,’” Verostek said.

Published on December 12, 2024 at 1:37 am