Bl6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Ptcombor 17,1983
The 'Gingerbread Udy' Travels to Washington, D.C.
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
LANCASTER - The
Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. is known far and
wide as the repository of
America’s treasurers.
Last weekend visitors there were
treated to a Lancaster County
treasure: genuine gingerbread
houses created by Lancaster’s
Gingerbread Lady, Patti Hudson.
Through a chance encounter at
an interdenominational retreat,
with the person who schedules
adult courses at the Smithsonian,
Patti was invited to demonstrate
making gingerbread houses and to
give a workship on making cookie
cottages, the smaller version made
from graham crackers. Patti says,
“It was one of those miraculous
things that you can’t explain. I
didn’t even know they taught
classes like this at the
Smithsonian.”
Forty people signed up for the
lecture demonstration where Patti
showed each step involved in
baking, assembling and decorating
the houses. To inspire workshop
participants Patti carried with her
about a dozen large houses, in
cluding churches, barns, Swiss
chalet-type houses and others. But
it was a newly created covered
bridge that captured everyone’s
attention.
The covered bridge was
something Patti had been in
tending to make for years for a
dear 4-H friend of hers in the
Washington area, and the in
vitation to the Smithsonian
provided the impetus to actually
carry out her plans. Patti says the
bridge was the most challenging
things she has created, primarily
because of “the logistics of having
water running under the bridge.”
The challenge was met and the
effect is stunning. The simple
bridge has windows so that the
horses and carriage are clearly
visible from outside. The bridge is
supported with gingerbread pieces
covered with stone-like candy
wafers. The “water” is blue and
there are ducks “swimming”
nearby. It is a wonderful re
creation of a part of Lancaster’s
heritage, and received more at
tention than any of her other
houses.
Patti also took along about 15
cookie cottages, each decorated in
a different fashion. It was these
that workshop participants made,
but in making them, Patti also
demonstrated the techniques
necessary to make the larger
houses.
Her biggest thrill, Patti says,
was having the staff of the
Smithsonian show such an interest
in her work. “Here they are
dealing every day with treasures
and they were oohing and aahing
over my gingerbread houses.” She
said their interest has made her
put more value on the work she
does.
About 15 years ago, Patti began
making houses with her children,
John, now 28, and Linda, 26. But
what started as a family project
eventually grew into a business,
and about seven years ago, Patti
began concentrating on the houses
and offered them for sale. Working
night and day she could barely
keep up with the number of orders
that came in. That hard work,
however, is what she credits with
“perfecting my skills.’’
In the last four years, she has
concentrated on sharing her
knowledge through workshops and
demonstrations and finds her
calendar filled with requests from
as far away as New Jersey. She
has offered workshops locally
through the Penn State Extension
Service.
Patti remarks that she finds it
ironic that she began a career as a
home economics teacher and has
now come full circle to teaching
again, something she thought she
didn’t care for.
This spring-summer house proved to be the highlight of
Patti's year. The house was made for a 99-year-old woman
who helped create the house with her daughter and grand
daughter. The house features a vegetable garden and a large
planter of geraniums.
Smithsonian Institution over the weekend. It was displayed
as part of a lecture-demonstration given by Lancaster
County's Patti Hudson who showed how to make a ginger
bread house. The bridge features a carriage and horses going
through the bridge, along with "running water" and ducks
swimming nearby.
Patti Hudson, known locally as the “Gingerbread Lady,”
shows some of the cookie cottages and the covered bridge
she took with her when she demonstrated at the Smithsonian
Institute last weekend. She also conducted a workshop on
how to make the small cottages, created from graham
crackers.
Patti says that offering the
workshops have challenged her
and that some of her best ideas
come from workshop participants.
Patti adds, “I don’t understand the
dynamics of it, but my daughter
calls it ‘gingerbread therapy.’
After people put together a house
they are laughing and working
together and go away with a good
feeling.”
She says the highest compliment
she ever received was when she
was introduced locally as a
“gingerbread missionary.” When
she questioned her introducer, the
woman told Patti that she called
(Turn to Page 822)
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