Giant NYC gingerbread village creator aims to spread 'joy' amid inflation, political challenges

The Manila Times

Giant NYC gingerbread village creator aims to spread 'joy' amid inflation, political challenges  A giant gingerbread village containing hundreds of confectionary structures is on display for the holidays at the Shops at Columbus Circle, an indoor mall in New York City.  Gingerbread Lane artist and creator Jon Lovitch, a former executive chef, said this is his 30th year making the village.  “Behind me is 720 houses. The existing Guinness World Record, which we hold, is 1251. Since this is over our original world record of 157 and nobody's ever broken it, we're still allowed to call ourselves the largest in the world,” he said.  REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital  Sign up to our newsletters: https://tmt.ph/newsletters   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #themanilatimes #worldnews #christmas

Transcript

00:00So we're here at Gingerbread Lane, the world's largest gingerbread village, and somebody

00:25killed my turkey.

00:53A lot of the things that you think of when you see New York City, we actually tried to

00:56kind of bring into the exhibit a little bit more this year.

01:23Behind me is 720 houses.

01:45The existing Guinness World Record, which we hold, is 1,251.

01:49Since this is over our original world record of 157 and nobody's ever broke it, we're still

02:19This year we have four locations.

02:38We're here in New York City, the flagship, because I live here in New York City, and

02:41then just a little bit south in Baltimore, and then we have an exhibit in New Orleans,

02:45Louisiana, our first time there, and then Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, also our

02:49first time.

03:11Prices went up, no doubt, there's nothing that's ever cheaper, but the trick remains,

03:15you've got to wait these merchants out until they're willing to give it to you cheaper.

03:19So if you wait until certain holidays, you notice some of the prices of things come down,

03:24particularly Easter, Christmas, things of that nature.

03:27They start selling more sugar and more flour because more people are baking, and they actually

03:30lower their prices.

03:31And then obviously, the trick is to buy the candy the day after the holiday.

03:55I think what really motivates me at this point, as you can see while you're here covering

04:18this, is the reaction that people have to it.

04:21It's very positive, and regardless of what's going on with COVID, or Trump and Biden, or

04:26the economy, or the weather, or your mortgage, or whatever it is, this has a lovely escapist

04:31quality.

04:32Five, 10, 15 minutes, you tend to forget about your problems, and it definitely, young, old,

04:37anything in between, people really love it, and you see the reaction on their faces, just

04:41today, just being here, seeing people walk up to it, you know, it just makes you feel

04:45good.

04:46Well, this is awesome.

04:47I'm glad you enjoyed it.

04:48Thanks for doing this.

04:49Absolutely.

04:50Y'all want to go walk through there?

05:21It's short-lived, it's not going to cure your ills for the rest of the day, but it really

05:35does feel pretty nice to make people happy, and just to know that you've created that

05:41joy in their world.

05:42Yeah, go put him back on.

05:50I know you want to help.

05:52Just take it.

05:54It's okay.

05:56Put it right there.

05:58Put one right there.

06:12It's okay.

06:42It's okay.

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