Arlington Hotel event to reveal gingerbread house
HOT SPRINGS — Sawyer the Elf, an Elf on the Shelf, will be residing in a full-size gingerbread house built by the staff at the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa in Hot Springs.
The annual gingerbread house, which was more than 8 feet high last year, is created in the hotel lobby using 72 “hotel-size” 2-by-3-foot pans, 20 gallons of icing and a lot of candy. The opening of the house is set for 4:30-5:30 p.m. Friday, when hotel staff will also light the 20-foot Christmas tree, sing carols, and serve hot chocolate and apple cider.
Children can write letters to Santa and mail them to the North Pole, or they can share their Christmas lists with Santa in person.
“This is a great event for kids,” said Scott Francis, director of food and beverage at the Arlington. “Even the adults enjoy coming to the event and seeing the house.”
Construction of the gingerbread house started Nov. 16 and will take about about two weeks to complete. Three to four staff members volunteer eight to 10 hours a day to work on the house.
“All gingerbread and icing is made from scratch in house,” Francis said.
The hotel has built a gingerbread house annually for more than 15 years. The wooden shell on which the gingerbread is placed has been used for eight to 10 years. It stays up through Jan. 1, then on Jan. 2 is cleaned and stored for the next Christmas.
“Everything on this house is edible beside the boxes the candy came in,” Francis said.
Tammi Crescini, the baker, cooked gingerbread for two days and made icing for half a day. The icing is made with egg whites beaten into a meringue consistency. Six cases of powdered sugar are added to the egg whites. This thickens the icing and makes it harden more quickly.
Carmen Jones, the front desk manager, and Melanie Hancock from the accounting department are credited for a lot of the construction this year, Francis said.
Not including labor, it costs the hotel $500 to $1,000 to build the display. About $500 is spent on candy. An assortment of candy decorates the gingerbread, including gummy bears, wax bottles, jelly beans, chocolate gold coins and cinnamon-flavored candies.
“A lady from Plano, Texas, helped put wax bottles around the windows,” Jones said. “We also had a couple kids sitting in the lobby jump the fence and help work on it.”
Visitors will be able to mark a ballot to guess how many candies are used on the house to win a prize. The person who guessed closest to the correct count will be announced on Jan. 1.
“Last year’s winner was within three candies of the total,” Francis said.
The Arlington expects about 100 to 150 guests during Friday’s event. There is no admission charge.