For the past 15 years, the Park City Library has served up a delicious annual tradition called the Gingerbread Jimmi House Building Competition.
It’s a fun contest where kids ages 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 can build houses, trains or anything that comes to mind for prizes and an evening of stories, songs and holiday cheer.
This year’s event will start at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4, and the library is now taking submissions, said Gingerbread Jimmi creator J.R. Holbrook.
“Kids can drop their creations off through the weekend,” he said. “We just need all entries to be in by 6 p.m. on Monday. The criteria is simple: everything has to be edible, and they need to be built with love.”
Submission forms are available at the library, Holbrook said.
“All contestants can fill out their forms when they arrive, and once they do that they are entered into an opportunity drawing,” he said.
The drawing ensures all entrants will get a prize to take home, Holdbrook said.
“We have some wonderful sponsors who have donated little gifts so everyone will be a winner, even though they may not win the first-, second- or third-place cash prizes in the different age categories.”
Once all the entries are set up, judges will take out their tally sheets and start the judging, Holbrook said.
“Katrina Kmak, the youth services librarian, has already lined up the judges,” he said. “We have Park City Mayor Nann Worel and some other ‘celebrities’ who are ready to grade the sugar, spice and everything nice.”
Kmak also tapped a couple of past competitors, who aged out of the competition, to judge this year’s creations, Holbrook said.
“They became too old to compete, but still want to be involved,” he said.
The idea for the competition reaches back to the raw ingredients for Gingerbread Jimmi, Holbrook said.
“Years ago, in the early 2000s, I was driving around with my four children, and we were listening to Christmas songs on the radio,” he said. “After one of my kids asked why the same songs were being played over and over again, we came to the conclusion that there were no gingerbread songs. So, we kind of formulated one.”
The song, titled “The Gingerbread Jimmi,” which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, hit the radio, and inspired Holbrook to write “Gingerbread Jimmi: The Magical Storybook.”
“Since the song was out, I knew I had to do a storybook about it, and we published the book in 2004,” he said. “So, next year will mark the 20th anniversary of that milestone.”
The book, which was illustrated by the husband and wife team of Sunny Strasburg and Martin Stensaas, “brought the song to life,” Holbrook said.
“We then decided to do a gingerbread house competition the year after that,” he said.
The popularity of Gingerbread Jimmi also spawned two Gingerbread Jimmi-themed benches, according to Holbrook.
One is located on Main Street, across from Java Cow Coffee & Ice Cream, and the other is in front of J.W. Allen & Sons Toy and Candy at Kimball Junction.
“We encourage kids to stop by the benches and make a wish,” Holbrook said. “Santa Claus pays attention to those wishes all year around, but especially during the Christmas season. And this is a way to keep holding on to that spark of magic during the holidays, and that is so important today.”
The gingerbread house competition is another way Holbrook has brought some magic to town throughout the years.
“It’s crazy to think that some of the kids who participated in the first, second and third competitions are now in college,” he said.
Even Jake Evans, who sang the original “Gingerbread Jimmi” song, is all grown up, according to Holbrook.
“Jake has this really deep voice (now), and has told me that he couldn’t even hit the notes if he wanted to,” Holbrook said.
Since Evans laid down the tracks for that first song, Holbrook has written three more “Gingerbread Jimmi” songs throughout the years — “Snow Flake Snow,” a winter medley, “Run Me Run 2,” which illustrates a chase sequence in the book, and “Christmas Sparks,” which is about how Gingerbread Jimmi comes to life on a Christmas tree.
“During the competition on Monday, we’ll plan on playing all the songs,” he said. “People can look up the songs online for a sing-along, and we know there will be dancing in the library.”
In addition to the songs and dancing, Grandpa Ron, Holbrook’s father, will read the book.
“He always enjoys reading the book during the competition,” Holbrook said. “He’s getting older, but is back ready to do this.”
Holbrook is grateful for the Park City Library who hosts the competition every year.
“This place is our local treasure and we’re so happy to get all of these families into the doors,” he said. “And it’s also exciting for the kids, because their houses will be on display at the library throughout the month.”
Holbrook can’t wait to see what the kids will build this year.
“I didn’t think these creations could get any bigger or better than years past, but they are,” he said. “I mean, these are like these kids’ own Sistine Chapel. They are creating their own monuments, and they are so proud to do this.”
To honor each entrant, Holbrook will roll out a red carpet and have a photographer on hand to take photos of the kids with their creations in front of a Gingerbread Jimmi backdrop.
“They will be the stars of the night,” he said. “They are all little artists, and being an artist is all about creating stuff that other people enjoy. And who doesn’t love sugar and spice and gingerbread during the holidays?”