LENOX -- The Taj Mahal, Tower of Pisa, the British Isles and a Cape Cod lighthouse could all be seen in Lenox on Sunday afternoon.
Actually, replicas of those landmarks highlighted a Gingerbread House competition and silent auction held at the Lenox Community Center. The event, sponsored by Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox, benefits Berkshire Grown's Share the Bounty program, by auctioning off the confectioner creations followed by the sold-out gala fundraising dinner held Sunday night.
Wheatleigh's pastry chef, Holly Evans, an event organizer, said both events raised an estimated $6,000 for Share the Bounty.
The program buys shares in area Community Supported Agriculture farms so they can offer fresh produce for free during the growing season to local food pantries, community kitchens and the Women, Infants and Children program.
The most elaborate gingerbread "house" was the Taj Mahal created by William Merelle, owner/chef of the Rouge restaurant in West Stockbridge, which took first place in the professional category. He used 50 pounds of gingerbread, along with numerous gumdrops, candy canes, peppermint sticks and even gummy worms to complete his sweet masterpiece.
"After all, you want people to eat it," Merelle said.
In fact, the competition's only ground rule is the gingerbread houses must be edible, said event organizer Holly Evans, the pastry chef at Wheatleigh.
However, each gingerbread
Evans, whose replica of a snow globe was not part of the judging, likes the trial and error method.
"If I try building the gingerbread house one way and it doesn't work," she noted, "I'll try something else."
Merelle, who recreated the White House last year, has to think like an architect.
"I make some kind of floor plan and drawings to guide me," he said.
Among the other recognizable gingerbread houses was the Tower of Pisa, frosted with the colors of the Italian flag which are green, white and red. Written in frosting at the tower's base was the phrase "Dolce vita" -- Italian for "sweet life."
Another European replica titled "Christmas in the British Isles" consisted of giant gingerbread cookies in the shape of Great Britian and Ireland.
The American-themed gingerbread creations included a Cape Cod lighthouse with a sailboat off shore, a cider mill and Charles Schultz' "Charlie Brown Christmas."
The classic holiday scene entered by the Pittsfield Boys and Girls Club had edible versions of Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, Linus and Lucy surrounding Snoopy as he lay atop his decorated doghouse.
To reach Dick Lindsay: rlindsay@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6233.
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