Skip to content

The Past and Future of Seattle in Ridiculous Gingerbread Houses

Sheraton’s Seattle Gingerbread Village celebrates its 25th anniversary in a new location.

By Megan Toal November 22, 2017

gb-14-780-h

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

 

Follow Us

Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride

Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride

Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.

Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…

Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae

Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS  The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…

Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison

Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison

Seattle artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison uses layers of paint and abstraction to explore what we carry beneath the surface.

Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s paintings are dense with movement. Color and texture gather into mosaic-like fields, as if they have been fractured and reformed. There are places in the work where a frenetic buzz seems trapped between the canvas and the first layer of paint. That energy runs through Patterns of Belonging, her current exhibition at…

ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart

ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart

The Federal Way-raised singer talks hometown memories, Ivar’s clam chowder, and how it feels to perform in the place he grew up.

Long before he was performing in sold-out arenas around the world and representing brands like Prada, ENHYPEN’s Jay called the Puget Sound region home. Born Jay Park (not to be confused with the other famous K-pop star of the same name, who is also from Seattle) in Seattle and raised in nearby Federal Way before…