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CASA Gingerbread House Competition winners

Daily Staff ReportVail CO, Colorado
Special to the Daily Jenny Hejtmanek and Susan Moran's "Woodland Wonderland" won first place in the amateur division at CASA's Gingerbread House Competition.
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BEAVER CREEK – Children’s eyes lit up as they walked into CASA’s 2006 Gingerbread House Competition and Auction and saw 53 gingerbread houses made by professional chefs, amateurs and children. Bernie Oswald and Brian Williams won first place in the professional division for the fourth year in a row, and the silent auction of their house raised $3,000 that will help CASA of the Continental Divide to advocate for local abused and neglected children.

Oswald and Williams’ entry “Old Time Christmas” portrayed a western theme including dozens of their signature marzipan figures. The second place professional entry was Jane Reichmuth and Jennifer Garretson’s “Park Peaks RR Station.” Both women are chefs at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa, where the event was held. The team of Marcia Kramer and Bernhard Schrag, faculty from Johnson & Wales University, the culinary university in Denver, took third place with their depiction of “Base Camp.”Amateur entries included first place winners Jenny Hejtmanek and Susan Moran’s “Woodland Wonderland.” Jenny has entered a house every year of the competition. Her first entry in 2003 was done with the children of Prater Lane Nursery School. This year’s second place entry was Holly Roof’s very imaginative “Santa’s Shack” and third place was Taj Mahal by Carrie Curtis and Sarah Sweeney, teachers at Vail Mountain School.

The amateur entries were diverse, from the very traditional gingerbread houses that Christie Hochtl has been making for many years to a modern structure by Siena Shaw with curved sections of gingerbread roof and sugar glass windows. The youngest entry in the division was 12-year-old Daniel Woods whose “Homestead” had a covered wagon and whose cabin chimney spouted incense “smoke.” The Ferguson family underwrote the amateur division of the competition New this year was a children’s division in which 30 children made 25 houses. Several children teamed up to enter with friends or family as one entry. Swift Eagle Charitable Foundation sponsored the children’s category.



The youngest competitor was 4, and all were 12 and under. Sara Dorfman won the category with her “Three Little Pigs’ Christmas Village. The judges gave second place to Alexandra, Samuel and Eli Temple of Faribault, Minn., who were visiting Beaver Creek for the week. Leadville’s Katelyn Young’s entry, “Polar Express” won third. 1st Banks of Vail and Avon donated savings bonds of $100, $75 and $50 for the first three places.Judges for the event were Andrew Fox of K-Confections, Erika Ammann from Alpenrose Restaurant and Bakery, John Westerhaus. Executive Chef at Beaver Creek Chophouse, Shawn Smith of Mountain Flour, Chris Deighan, caterer, and Lynn Perry, a local art teacher.Vail Daily, Vail Colorado


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