J. Craig Madison dreams in technicolor Royal icing, sprinkles, candy canes and most of all….gingerbread.
For the last two evenings, I’ve been to a reception and a dinner hosted by Madison, president and CEO of the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa in Asheville, N.C. He told a fascinating story of how he solved a marketing and business problem with cookies, candies and creativity.
Seventeen years ago, he was challenged to increase bookings at the historic mountain resort during the slower winter season. “And to be honest,” he told me, “we didn’t have much of a budget for holiday decorations either.”
Then he hit upon a winner of an idea: create a late autumn national Gingerbread House contest in which anyone could enter, from children to adults, and have them bring their entries to the resort for judging. Then, display the sugary creations throughout the resort as a holiday viewing opportunity for entrants’ families, locals and tourists… using those entries ALSO as the basis for (free) holiday decorations. Genius.
Nearly two decades of gingerbread house competitions later… the result is an almost cult-like devotion to the contest, with hundreds of entries around the country. It’s become a national contest featured yearly by Diane Sawyer on ABC News (check your local listings for when she’ll be doing the story around Christmas).
I’m here in Asheville at the Grove Park, where yesterday I was one of 10 national judges (I know, I know…me???) at the 17th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition. I was blown away by the entries’ high creativity and professionalism…from the children’s category ages 5-8, all the way up through the youth, teen and adult categories of ages 18 and up.
For seven intense hours, we methodically judged entries made completely of edible products, with the structures primarily made of gingerbread. We scrutinized, poked and debated the merits of buildings representing traditional gingerbread villages and Santa’s workshops, to entries representing Star Wars characters, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and even an interpretation of the classic TV cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (complete with the Burl Ives snowman).
Despite the I-40 state line rockslide that made travel to Asheville a tad more challenging, Tennessee was well represented, with several winners in the top 10 winners circle from Maryville, Greenback, and Burns. (Many of these folks compete yearly, placing high. Last year a first-place category winner and the overall grand prize winner both came from Tennessee.)
The houses will be on display beginning this Wednesday through January, and it’s worth the drive to see these true works of art. Hey, and to make up for the “rockslide pain”, Grove Park is offering a discounted Tennessee Friends package (go to their website at www.groveparkinn.com and pull up TN50) to view the lower room rates, gift cards, spa passes and other discounts.
The Volunteer State did us proud this year with our entrants’ and winners’ creativity and attention to detail. So take that drive to Asheville and check ‘em out! (and my thanks to the talented chefs and culinary experts who welcomed me into their judging fold!! That was tons of fun.)
Judging is certainly difficult with all the great entries. Watch this news story from WLOS-TV in Asheville to see me and the other judges hard at work. Pass the gingerbread cookies, please!!!
Lisa confers with the other judges during the competition. (Photo from the Asheville Citizen-Times)
