Since 1992, the Sheraton Seattle has held a competition for architecture firms, master builders and Sheraton’s culinary teams to build the best and most elaborate gingerbread displays. This year’s theme for the Sheraton Seattle’s 25th annual Gingerbread Village is “25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle.”

How do these talented gingerbread builders celebrate the Emerald City, you ask? By building glorious candy neighborhoods of Seattle from both 100 years ago and 100 years into the future.

Be awed by the rotating 360-degree gingerbread history of Seattle, featuring the Great Fire of 1889 and the famous buildings that rose from its ashes in the decades to come. Some builders chose to embody the seven hills of Seattle by building 1917 Seattle on a giant gingerbread hill, with St. James Cathedral perched on top and the docks in the Sound at the bottom, replete with candy otters and whales.

The gingerbread villages of Seattle neighborhoods in 2117 feature a broad variety of futuristic visions, from a city of bright flashing lights in one display to a space station in another. Be sure to see the other gingerbread displays with Seattle halfway underwater—look for the submerged Fremont troll and an attacking giant squid.

There is no cost to attend, but donations to Sheraton Seattle’s Gingerbread Village benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Northwest Chapter. While previously held at the Sheraton Hotel, the Gingerbread Village is at City Centre this year as the Sheraton undergoes a renovation. Visit the displays now through January 1.

Sheraton’s Seattle Gingerbread Village
City Centre, 1420 Fifth Ave., at the Fifth and Sixth Avenue entrances