Houses. Streets. Cars. Signs. Subways. Law enforcement. Mix them all together and you’ve got a recipe for a city. Even if that city is made of gingerbread.
This Sunday, November 17, GingerBread Lane opens in the New York Hall of Science in Queens. The display is a 300-square-foot village made entirely of gingerbread, royal icing, and candy. Among its main attractions are 152 houses, four cable cars, five train cars, 65 trees, an underground subway station, and signs made out of sugar. Oh, yeah, and it weighs in at one-and-a-half tons.
Kansas City, Missouri native Jon Lovitch began creating the tiny town back in 1994, and it has since spent the holidays in various American cities like Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and Richmond, VA. Though the design and layout changes each year, Lovitch always includes fan favorite items like Eggnog Bay, Gum Drop Row, Candy Cane Place, and Peppermint Central Park. (Wouldn’t it be great if Central Park was really made out of peppermint? Yum.) New this year is a “behind the scenes” window, which gives viewers a peek inside a house complete with royal icing mini ovens. Candy nutcrackers, the village’s police force, stand guard over the exhibit.
Lovitch runs “Build Your Own” workshops on December 7 and 28, where you can try your hand at creating a house of your own. The village is on display until January 12, at which time the pieces are given away to spectators. The best part? They’re free.
If you go…
$11; $8 children, students & seniors. Tues.-Fri. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., closed Christmas Day. 718-699-0005; www.nysci.org or www.gingerbread-lane.org
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