Gingerbread Carpenter’s Awarded

ESSEX — Originating in Germany during the 16th century, gingerbread houses are synonymous with the holidays. Confectionary delights, constructed out of cookies and frosting, adorned in colorful candied ornaments, these unique displays of creativity and craft are the things that family memories are made of, which is why the Essex Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) holds a Gingerbread House Contest fundraising event every year.

Under “normal” circumstances, the handmade gingerbread house entries are beautifully arranged, for display, in the school cafeteria, to be viewed by parents and visitors who are attending the winter musical concert. However, this year, the PTO quickly pivoted and held the event online. Entries were posted to an online slide show that was created to showcase and highlight the many and varied, imaginative spectacles of confectionary art.

“This is such a great fundraiser every year,” said PTO Vice-President Cassandra Sweet. “It gets people in the holiday spirit and it's something that families look forward to creating together, so we wanted to make sure that we made it happen, somehow, this year.”

She added, “After we saw how successful the pumpkin carving contest was online, we decided to do the same thing for the Gingerbread House Contest and it turned out great.”

There were 30 total house entries and the PTO raised a total of approximately $350 through entry fees and a pay to vote platform. The funds raised will go into the PTO’s general fund to be used for a variety of programs and events such as field trips, chrome book purchases, cultural arts events and more.

“We are so glad we were able to still hold this contest and raise some needed money,” said Sweet. “After we couldn’t hold the Harvest Festival this year because of COVID-19 we didn’t want to lose this fundraiser also.”

After the slide slow was up and the votes were tallied, the winners of the event were notified. All first-place winners received a $50 Amazon gift card, second place winners received a $30 Amazon gift card and third place winners received a $25 gift card.

Here are the winners for each category along with the number of their winning house as it appears in the slide show. For the pre-school/kindergarten category first place went to Alyssa Harp #3, second place went to Bobby Padelli #2 and third place went to Lillian Mirante #4.

In the 1st/2nd grade category, first place went to Tucker Streit #8, second place went to Landon Sweet #11 and third place went to Jayda Harp #10.

In the 3rd/4th grade category, first place went to Paige Erwin #15, second place went to Caitlin Lunz#16 and third place went to Siena Nardizzi #18.

In the 5th/6th grade category, first place went to Jacob Allard #24, second place went to Josh Sweet #25 and third place went to Kate van Berkel #26.

And lastly, in the adult category first place went to Kathy Lunz #31, second place went to Carolyn Streit #28 and third place went to Cassandra Sweet #29.

Congratulations winners!! For the full slide show of houses go to https://www.eespto.com/?fbclid...