CARIBOU, Maine — While COVID-19 has canceled countless events across the country, staff at the Caribou Recreation Department figured out a way to hold their annual gingerbread house decorating event, which has been a city tradition for more than two decades.
Normally, families sign up for a spot in the rec center’s gymnasium, where they can sit at a table and assemble a gingerbread house together. Santa Claus and his elves also greet guests.
This year, the department held a drive-thru iteration of the event, where families drove up to the building’s entrance and staff and volunteers handed out the materials to take home.
Caribou Events and Marketing Coordinator Christina Kane-Gibson said the department gave away 267 kits from 6 to 8 p.m. — just two hours time. When they posted about the event on social media in early November, she said they were booked solid within three or four hours.
“The phone was just ringing off the hook,” she said, adding that an additional 200 signed up for the “waiting list,” in which they would be notified of any vacancies.
And while the event looked different, it was orchestrated by the same people as before. Farms Bakery bakes the gingerbread for the houses. Sleeper’s of Caribou readies all of the additional supplies while a group of about 10 volunteers led by community member Barb Aiken assembles the house kits for distribution.
The event is already a massive undertaking for the city, and moving it to a drive-through format required additional preparation and volunteers, Kane-Gibson said.
Reflecting on the event, Kane-Gibson said she would label it as a success, but that it wasn’t the same as before.
“We definitely missed seeing the faces on the kids and all the families working together to build their houses,” she said. “It definitely wasn’t our usual tradition, but we were still happy we could offer something.”
She said many families thanked her and the staff for continuing to hold the event.
“We had one person say it was important for the community to be able to look forward to these things, and to have something for the kids to do,” she said. “It’s just such a crazy time, and now that the [case] numbers are going up, it’s putting everybody a little on edge about what’s going to happen in the next few weeks. So it was nice to be able to give the community something to look forward to.”
Kane-Gibson commended the sponsors and businesses that helped out, adding that it has been “a wild year’ for small businesses, but that the community is staying resilient. She emphasized the importance of supporting small businesses when shopping for Christmas gifts, as this is a crucial time for them, especially for artists and crafters.
“I applaud our businesses, volunteers, and the community for doing this,” she said. “Thank you to everybody; it’s been a weird and wacky year.”
