Perfect Viewing for Gingerbread: Revisiting the 2017 Tour

The weather has been perfect this year for touring Sausalito’s new collection of gingerbread houses. A succession of mild sunny days has made it a delight to view the 11^th Annual Sausalito Gingerbread House Competition and Tour (sponsored by the Sausalito Chamber of Commerce). I never quite make it to all the participants. There were over forty entries this year, to be fair. I did see a good representation of this year’s wonderful creations, though. I’m pleased to be able to share photos of my many favorites with you. The photo above is Sausalito Stationery’s gingerbread version of the entire town of Sausalito.

Angelino's Restaurant Gingerbread — Angelino’s Restaurant Gingerbread House

Casa Madrona Hotel and Spa Gingerbread — Otis Redding composing “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” on a houseboat, created by Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa

Sausalito Optometry, Gingerbread Ski Chalet — Sausalito Optometry’s Gingerbread Ski Chalet. The ski lift is made of pretzels, mini Oreos, and licorice strings. The chalet roof is made of Triscuit crackers.

Voting for Your Favorites

Each gingerbread house has a ballot box for voting for your favorite. I must admit to voting for more than one, though. They are all so delightful it is hard to choose just one. I must admit to being in love with the gingerbread house in the window of First California Realty. It is a model of an actual Sausalito home on Cable Roadway. The terraced hillside landscaping is brilliantly recreated with gumdrop trees and rock candy plantings. It really is about as close to Candyland as you can get. Incidentally, Candyland has always been close to my heart. It was the subject of many bedtime stories my father told my sister and I when we were little. I also wrote and illustrated a children’s book for my nephew featuring his own adventures in Candyland that became his favorite story for a while.

First California Realty Gingerbread House

More favorites

Some of my other favorites were gingerbread versions of the businesses; Driver’s Market had about the cutest version of its building anyone could imagine, Engel & Völkers Luxury Real Estate made an elegant, life-like model of their newly renovated historic firehouse building on the Bay.

Driver's Market Gingerbread House — Driver’s Market Gingerbread House

Driver's Market Gingerbread House, front — Driver’s Market Gingerbread House with a walk made of split peas. The little dog on the bench out front and the mini bags of groceries could be marzipan.

Engel & Volkers Luxury Real Estate Gingerbread House — Engel & Volkers in the former Sausalito firehouse building

The Trident Gingerbread Bus — Janis Joplin in a Gingerbread VW Bus at The Trident

I also really enjoyed the touch of Sausalito history at The Trident restaurant . They created a scene with Janis Joplin driving VW bus to a Christmas tree lot run by Santa; all edible of course! Back in the sixties, Joplin used to hang out at The Trident because she lived just across the street. But my absolute favorite creation in this year’s tour was at Sausalito Stationery. They created their version of the entire town of Sausalito in gingerbread with pastel Necco Wafer candy as roof tiles. These sweet edible houses marching up the hill from the bay really captured the essence of this little town. The Gingerbread House Competition and Tour runs through December 31, 2017, so it’s not too late to go and vote for your favorites now. If you are curious about gingerbread houses from previous years, I wrote a post last December that has lots more photos and a short video tour.