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Fountain Crest’s gingerbread village in competition

By Staff | Dec 16, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Gingerbread village with a Floridian style.

It’s that time of the year when you hear about gingerbread houses, the fun they are to make and the enjoyment they are to eat.

This Christmas, several residents at the Fountain Crest Retirement Community, at 1230 Taylor Lane, have come together to build a gingerbread beach community and they are vying for top prize money in a contest competing with other independent living complexes throughout the country.

Fountain Crest is owned by Sunshine Retirement Living in Bend, Oregon, and the firm owns several independent living communities. This Christmas, the firm has offered up a contest for the best gingerbread handmade house or community.

If the 10 or so residents – with a little bit of help from management – win, they can expect the top prize of $300. Second place price is $200 and third place is $100.

Earla Miller, a Fountain Crest resident for about seven years, and Bonnie Woodbury, a resident for almost two years, sat down and talked about the time and effort it took to construct the gingerbread community, which sits on a table in the chapel of the complex.

Louis Sanchez

“We started on it maybe six weeks ago,” said Woodbury. “There were six to 10 of us who worked on it.”

The rules of the contest were that most of the gingerbread house or village must be made of mostly edible products. With a little imagination, Woodbury said they used not only gingerbread, but crackers, pretzels, small pieces of candy, cake icing and cereal mini-wheats.

If you take a close peek, you may find other edible things.

They selected a Floridian Christmas scene and for sand, they used lots of brown sugar all over the board, showing the gingerbread community off the water with tall palm trees in the background.

The tall palm trees and sky scene came from a large picture framed painting.

Debbie Whiteaker

On the front side, a little character, all decked out for the holidays, keeps singing out that “you can look, but you can’t touch or eat.”

“Oh everybody enjoyed it,” said Miller. “Other residents of Fountain Crest would stop by frequently over the six weeks it took to put together to keep up with our progress.”

Woodbury added that the “architect” behind some of the village was Lois Sanchez.

“Oh, I did it on paper and sort of set up how to build the Tiki hut that Santa is standing in. But you can’t eat him; he is not gingerbread or candy,” Sanchez said.

This past weekend, Teresa Cancel, Fountain Crest’s sales director, said they were going to video tape the village and show the small details up close then send it to corporate for judging.

Bonnie Woodbury

After Christmas or maybe this week, they intend to take the gingerbread village to Hope Hospice on Wing’s Way, where it can be displayed for patients and visitors and for the members of the Boys & Girls Club that meet there.

“Friday was the deadline for us to get the video out to headquarters,” Cancel said.

“It took a lot of work but we all had fun making the gingerbread and building the little beach village,” said Miller.

Ann Marie Demarco, business manager, said she helped a little.

“I worked on the reindeer and Santa one day,” she said. “But it was a project of the residents.”

MEL TOADVINE Tree made from cake icing.

If Fountain Crest wins first, second or third, they will put the money into a residents’ fund to pay for an activity they want to hold.

“While Lois was the overseer person of the project, people like Bonnie Woodbury, Doris King and Ellie Schneider all worked on the largest part of the village, the tiki hut,” she said.

Miller said the chapel, where the beach community is located, is in a small room on the second floor of the complex. They used card tables to build the things separately for the board and then with special care, moved everything to the main board to complete the village.

“Oh, we had about eight card tables in the chapel; it was a little tight,” Miller laughed. “But with the help of the others, all working together and enjoying it, we all were proud of what we did.”

“Now we’re going to wait and hope we won first place,” she smiled.

Fountain Crest’s gingerbread village in competition

By Staff | Dec 16, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Gingerbread village with a Floridian style.

It’s that time of the year when you hear about gingerbread houses, the fun they are to make and the enjoyment they are to eat.

This Christmas, several residents at the Fountain Crest Retirement Community, at 1230 Taylor Lane, have come together to build a gingerbread beach community and they are vying for top prize money in a contest competing with other independent living complexes throughout the country.

Fountain Crest is owned by Sunshine Retirement Living in Bend, Oregon, and the firm owns several independent living communities. This Christmas, the firm has offered up a contest for the best gingerbread handmade house or community.

If the 10 or so residents – with a little bit of help from management – win, they can expect the top prize of $300. Second place price is $200 and third place is $100.

Earla Miller, a Fountain Crest resident for about seven years, and Bonnie Woodbury, a resident for almost two years, sat down and talked about the time and effort it took to construct the gingerbread community, which sits on a table in the chapel of the complex.

Louis Sanchez

“We started on it maybe six weeks ago,” said Woodbury. “There were six to 10 of us who worked on it.”

The rules of the contest were that most of the gingerbread house or village must be made of mostly edible products. With a little imagination, Woodbury said they used not only gingerbread, but crackers, pretzels, small pieces of candy, cake icing and cereal mini-wheats.

If you take a close peek, you may find other edible things.

They selected a Floridian Christmas scene and for sand, they used lots of brown sugar all over the board, showing the gingerbread community off the water with tall palm trees in the background.

The tall palm trees and sky scene came from a large picture framed painting.

Debbie Whiteaker

On the front side, a little character, all decked out for the holidays, keeps singing out that “you can look, but you can’t touch or eat.”

“Oh everybody enjoyed it,” said Miller. “Other residents of Fountain Crest would stop by frequently over the six weeks it took to put together to keep up with our progress.”

Woodbury added that the “architect” behind some of the village was Lois Sanchez.

“Oh, I did it on paper and sort of set up how to build the Tiki hut that Santa is standing in. But you can’t eat him; he is not gingerbread or candy,” Sanchez said.

This past weekend, Teresa Cancel, Fountain Crest’s sales director, said they were going to video tape the village and show the small details up close then send it to corporate for judging.

Bonnie Woodbury

After Christmas or maybe this week, they intend to take the gingerbread village to Hope Hospice on Wing’s Way, where it can be displayed for patients and visitors and for the members of the Boys & Girls Club that meet there.

“Friday was the deadline for us to get the video out to headquarters,” Cancel said.

“It took a lot of work but we all had fun making the gingerbread and building the little beach village,” said Miller.

Ann Marie Demarco, business manager, said she helped a little.

“I worked on the reindeer and Santa one day,” she said. “But it was a project of the residents.”

MEL TOADVINE Tree made from cake icing.

If Fountain Crest wins first, second or third, they will put the money into a residents’ fund to pay for an activity they want to hold.

“While Lois was the overseer person of the project, people like Bonnie Woodbury, Doris King and Ellie Schneider all worked on the largest part of the village, the tiki hut,” she said.

Miller said the chapel, where the beach community is located, is in a small room on the second floor of the complex. They used card tables to build the things separately for the board and then with special care, moved everything to the main board to complete the village.

“Oh, we had about eight card tables in the chapel; it was a little tight,” Miller laughed. “But with the help of the others, all working together and enjoying it, we all were proud of what we did.”

“Now we’re going to wait and hope we won first place,” she smiled.