Weather Hurts Gingerbread Festival

Despite the winter weather conditions that were present this past weekend, Gingerbread houses were lined up along tables inside a building at Longwood Park as Salem’s Gingerbread Festival took place throughout the city.

The Gingerbread Festival, presented by the Salem Parks and Recreation Department and the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce, is a tradition that happens every year on the first Saturday of December.

While the mix of snow and rain may have deterred people from attending the Gingerbread Festival, a majority of the events continued as planned.

The vendors were still standing outside at the Salem Farmer’s Market. The fare they had for sale included Christmas wreaths, honey, bread, cookies and chestnuts. Free apple cider, provided by the chamber of commerce, helped attendees and vendors warm up.

“Thank goodness they have the cider,” a farmer said. “Otherwise I’d freeze before the festival is over with!”

At the Salem Library, volunteers stood outside to greet families as they entered the building. Activities inside the library included craft making, writing letters to Santa, and having photos taken with Santa.

Pedestrian traffic along Main Street was light as the snow and rain mix continued to fall down on Salem. However, that didn’t stop businesses from having customers come in to warm up and check out their selections.

Longwood Park had most of the festivities going on, as most of the attendees and vendors stood inside the shelters to check out the crafts by local residents. A few trailers were adjacent to the shelters, selling food and drinks.

While the scene in Salem appeared to be mostly scattered and isolated, the main attraction was situated where the gingerbread house competition took place.

Dee King, a board member of the chamber, greeted attendees as they entered the room containing the entries to this year’s competition. Looking around, one could see entries from children, amateurs and corporations in Salem, hoping their house would be the big winner this year.

One house King noted was a windmill house made by the residents of the Snyder Nursing Home.

“Every single resident of the nursing home helped out with the making of the windmill house,” King said. “It really shows that, although these people can’t do much anymore, they worked together to make a wonderful product.”

John Farmer, a Salem resident, noted the support of the businesses and organizations in Salem by placing an entry into the festival.

“I really believe this shows how closely-knit of a city Salem is,” Farmer said. “Especially with Roanoke College here in the city, the participation that we get from them and other businesses is excellent.”

Since the weather turned out to be unfavorable for the outdoors, a few of the outdoor activities had to be cancelled.

“We were going to have an entertainment stage set up featuring local artists and entertainers in the park, but we had to cancel that at the last minute,” Dee said. “The shops along Main Street were also going to sell items outside, but the snow made them move back inside.”

Attendance also reflected the effects of the bad weather.

“In years past, people would line up on the entry road to the park to get inside the gingerbread competition exhibit,” Dee said. “As this year shows, there really isn’t a line at all to get inside.”

Nevertheless, the money raised from the votes submitted for the gingerbread competition will go to the chamber to help fund other programs.

As the festival closed, the sky in Salem cleared up and downtown still had the same light traffic along Main Street, minus the pedestrians. Businesses closed for the night and Salem was once again quiet.