By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — It doesn’t get much hollier or jollier than the Santa’s Workshop Celebration that delighted children of all ages at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center on Dec. 2.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The lack of open tables on which to place their gingerbread structures didn’t hinder the McCrossins in the adornment process during the Santa’s Workshop Celebration in Caribou on Dec. 2; they pulled up some floor space and dove right in. Shown, from left, working diligently on confectionary building are Braxton, 4, Dawn, and Seth, as he sorted through the candy dish to find just the right piece, and 3-year-old Lily, who wasn’t afraid of getting dirty to get the house built.
A collaboration between the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce, the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center, Sleeper’s Store and a score of caring volunteers, just about 1,000 people (including over 250 children) enjoyed holiday happenings at the rec, including gingerbread house decorating — sponsored annually by Sleeper’s, cookie decorating, concocting magical reindeer food, making ornaments, entering into a coloring contest and, of course, spending some time with Santa Claus. The Big Man (and Mrs. Claus, too) were chauffeured to the event in the Caribou Fire Department’s Ladder Truck at 6 p.m. to light one of Caribou’s Christmas trees and kick off the fun-filled evening.
All 250 gingerbread houses were once again decorated to the hilt in a fantastically frosted fashion — the whimsy kids of the Caribou area use to decorate their confectionary structures never ceases to impress longtime volunteer of the gingerbread house tradition Barb Aiken.
“The creativity of these children is just phenomenal,” Aiken said. “The candy will vary from year to year, but it doesn’t matter to the kids if it’s something simple like a marshmallow, a Smartie, an M&M or a gumdrop — they’ll take whatever’s in that dish and they’ll create whatever they need.”
Houses ranged from the simplistic (when youngsters eat more frosting and candy than they decorate the gingerbread with) to zealously adorned (where children accepted the challenge of using every bit of candy and every last smudge of frosting).
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet There was no coming between 2-year-old Kiara Chasse of Caribou and her candy cane at the holiday celebration at the Rec. Center on Dec. 2; the youth very calmly enjoyed her treat while people-watching in the gymnasium. |
“Many of them make sure to use all their candy and their frosting,” Aiken explained. “They use the square pretzels to make windows, they’ll stack the candy to make the chimneys — it’s just unbelieveable how the kids create everything.”
But of course, the scene that Aiken frequently sees every year is youngsters eating the leftover frosting and any extra candies.
“There’s very little that gets thrown out!” she said, laughing. And if there’s ever a time for a seasonal sugary indulgence, it was the Santa’s Workshop celebration.
“It’s just one night, and it’s Christmas,” Aiken said.
Even volunteer Demetry Roberts, a student at the Loring Job Corps Center, noticed the youths’ gravitation toward the sweets (and Santa, too).
“The kids were really excited,” Roberts said.
He had the opportunity to interact with youths and their parents while volunteering at the cookie decorating station “and [the kids] were going overboard with the sugar; I was thinking ‘good luck sending them to bed tonight!’”
Back home in Boston, Roberts has a 7-year old brother and an 8-year-old sister and volunteering at Santa’s Workshop Celebration made him excited to go home for the holidays — he said that working with the kids was the best part of the experience.
“They make me laugh,” he said.
The smiles on all their little faces had less to do with the candy and more to do with the infectious holiday spirit, which spread to the adults as well while they decorated sugary treats and colored ornaments alongside their children.
“The best part was seeing the families together,” said Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce Director Jenny Coon. “And the parents were having just as much fun as the kids.”
Even though the massive turnout exceeded seating the rec center’s large gymnasium, parents had no problem pulling up some floor space next to their kids as they implemented their confectionary aesthetic improvements to the gingerbread houses (and even the adults snuck pieces of candy from the “building supplies” dishes now and again, too).
The best part many cited about the event this year was the fact that the line to see Santa and Mrs. Claus was never too long, as there were a multitude of events to keep parents and children occupied throughout the evening.
Many parents commented on how nice the event was and thanked the volunteers for putting on such a nice affair.
Chamber of Commerce member and event volunteer Candy Shrewsberry, owner of Talk of the Town Farm in Connor, may have been working to help the event run smoothly, but she’s heard from her own two kids just how much fun the evening was — a sentiment shared by many in attendance.
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet Gingerbread house event co-organizer Barb Aiken surveyed the scene of hundreds of children and parents decorating their confectionary structures; the frosting on the rack behind her is a fraction of the sugary adhesive made for the event. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet While there was ample hustle and bustle to distract even the most focused artist, 6-year-old P.J. McDonough, of Caribou, stayed concentrated on the coloring contest held during the Santa’s Workshop Celebration at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet There’s an exact formula when it comes to making magical reindeer food, and 4-year-old Hannah Chartier of Fort Fairfield seemed to have perfected that science through equal ratios of glitter and rolled oats. |
“People came up and said it was a nice evening,” Shrewsberry said, adding that heard many positive comments about the Chamber and its director.
While the chamber added a number of new activities to the event this year, the evening’s origins stem years ago with Sleeper’s store.
Aiken has been volunteering to assist Sleeper’s staff with the event since a year after its inception.
“Every time they ask me to help I say ‘sure, I’ll do it for the kids,’” she said.
All 1,500 pieces of gingerbread necessary to assemble the houses were baked at Sleeper’s bakery, and Aiken along with other volunteers spent four days working to assemble the houses and prepare for the arrival of hundreds of people at 6 p.m. Dec. 2.
To give an example of what a big undertaking 250 gingerbread houses is, Aiken explained that to create all the icing that youths use to decorate the houses (and not including the frosting that’s created specially to secure the gingerbread structures) it takes over 50 pounds of confectioners sugar.
While it’s a lot of work, Aiken loves volunteering for the event.
Though there’s a lot to do even while the event’s under way, she has noticed how parents interact so well with their children while they’re working together on the gingerbread houses.
“I think it’s an opportunity for parents and their children to sit down, concentrate and focus on one thing — the TV isn’t interrupting, the video games aren’t available and I think that for some of us, it brings back memories of our own childhood,” she said.
When the children had finished their holiday activities and bid adieu to Santa, they left the rec center with a goodie bag as well as a brand new pair of mittens knitted by RSVP volunteers — who made over 300 pairs of mittens specifically for the event.
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| Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet A prouder architect would have been hard to find as 4-year-old Danika Plourde showed off her newly-created gingerbread house. She attended the holiday event with Darsey Plourde, both of New Sweden. |
Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet Corey Alexander, in back, and Brody Anderson, 4-and-a-half, of Caribou wore equally festive headgear to the Santa’s Workshop celebration on Dec. 2 at the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center, but the difference was that Anderson made his adornment by hand. Alexander was one of many student volunteers from the Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone. The two are shown decorating gingerbread cookies. |
Aroostook Republican photo/ Natalie Bazinet While most children want Santa to bring them toys, Shawn Griffeth, 3, of Caribou decided that he was going to share one of his toys with St. Nick. |
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The gingerbread house decorating that was so popular during the Dec. 2 Santa’s Workshop Celebration has been a long time tradition of Sleeper’s. Shown above are members of the Sleepers family who attended the gingerbread-decorating event including, from left, Nelson (Ike), Jeanne, Shannon, David, Nicholas, Isabella, Meredith, Chloe, Tanya, Joe II, Doris and Joe.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Everyone was getting into the Holiday Spirit at the Santa’s Workshop event on Dec. 2, particularly co-organizer and Director of the Caribou Area Chamber of Commerce Jenny Coon and her friend, Frosty T. Snowman.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
While a few children were startled to see such a large and dexterous snowman at the Caribou Rec. Center on Dec. 2, Parks and Recreation Superintendent helped assure the youngsters that Frosty was a friend.
