STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sun Valley Resort is the epitome of a winter wonderland, what with 74 inches of marshmallow-like snow said to be sitting on the ground.

But a sugar-filled winter wonderland has taken up residence inside the Sun Valley Village Boiler Room.

That’s where nearly 20 gingerbread houses sporting piped icing, edible glass stars, coconut snow,  bottlebrush trees, peppermint windows, candy cane siding and rivers made of sprinkles can be found.

The houses are part of Sun Valley Resort’s inaugural Community Gingerbread House Contest.

The public is invited to vote on their favorite via their cellphones through Jan. 1. The top three will win between $3,000 and $1,000 for the nonprofit they were built on behalf of.

The gingerbread houses boast an immense amount of creativity and variety.

Towering above all of them is Rapunzel’s house featuring Rapunzel’s golden braid made of icing, which teenager Brooke Vagias made on behalf of  the Friends of the Hailey Public Library.

A 13- and 15-year-old created an unusual entry featuring a dog made of chocolates and a cat in what evokes a sort of frozen looking Rube Goldberg entry on behalf of Mountain Humane.

Five Star Kitchen & Bath entered a towering, tilting gingerbread house made out of cereal to benefit Unega Mountain Dog Rescue.

The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Freestyle Team’s entry depicts skiers knee deep in snow-like icing outside the Roundhouse.

A log cabin made in honor of the Environmental Resource Center features walls made of Pirouline Crème cookies and a roof made out of Chex—with a glass candy solar panel, of course. Shortbread cookies form a walkway while a split log fence made of pretzels keeps a marshmallow snowman from running away.

Molly Vance Photography created Winter’s Day at the Bow Bridge on behalf of the Wood River Land Trust with chocolate drops serving as rocks.

SV Weddings created Trail Candy Cabin on behalf of The Advocates, while the Flourish Foundation created a Yurt of Compassion boasting an Oreo cookie roof and a walkway made of almond slivers—perfect for the Keto crowd.

A display for Boulder Mountain Clayworks features Sun Valley Lodge with confectionary swans swimming around a pond made of bright blue icing and the traditional Sun Valley ice sculpture. The Sun Valley Visitor Center created a replica of the Starbucks building with pretzels and Chex.

A couple feature very elaborate scenes.

One made by Sun Valley Culinary Institute student Eduardo Escalera on behalf of I Have a Dream Foundation depicts Bellevue, Alturas and Hailey elementary schools created out of a plethora of yummy gumdrops and other candies with cute little snowmen wearing peppermint candy berets on their heads.

And Team Sun Valley Stoke created an elaborate entry that not only features the Sun Valley barn with a gingerbread sled outside, but the River Run Lodge with Bald Mountain made of peppermint bark and an ice rink ringed by chocolate hockey boards.

Titled “It Takes a Village,” the designated beneficiary is NAMI-Wood River Valley and 5B Suicide Prevention Alliance.

The gingerbread houses can be viewed in The Boiler Room through Jan. 1.

SPEAKING OF WINTER WONDERLANDS….

Webb Landscaping notes that Ketchum has gotten 74 inches of snow through Dec. 12. The town’s average total snowfall over the past 21 years is 84 inches for the entire winter, the landscapers say. That is debatable, however as another source says K-Town averages 102 inches of snow per year.

So far, the 2022/23 winter snowfall is 440 percent higher than the historical average.

Bald Mountain has averaged 220 inches of snowfall in a winter season in the past.