They are baking up a big batch of missionary work here again this holiday season. The fourth annual Gingerbread Parade opened Nov. 18 and continues through Dec. 22 at the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery Visitors Center at Winter Quaters.
"This is our Christmas gift to the community," said Judy Skalla, stake public communications director.Elder Darel Johnson, visitors center director, called the event "the greatest missionary tool we have right now." In the past, the colder winter months have brought a drastic decline in visitors to the pioneer cemetery and to the center.
"The Gingerbread Parade gives us the boost we need," Elder Johnson said. "And it's growing every year."
Last year some 3,500 people attended the parade during the four-week display period. In 1986, the first year of the event, 1,200 people came to visit Winter Quarters during the four weeks.
Gingerbread house mini-classes have long been a tradition in some wards in the stake, Sister Skalla said. An annual display at Winter Quarters is a natural outgrowth of that, she added.
"Unexpected benefits have resulted," Sister Skalla observed. "New friendships and new skills are developed during the gingerbread-house making. Everyone can get involved, even if only to eat leftovers!"
A special focus of this year's parade is gingerbread replicas of historic buildings in Florence, Neb. Florence is the community that sprang up on the Winter Quarters site after the saints went west.
Other features of this year's display include a replica of the Salt Lake Temple, a Swiss chalet, a barn and farmyard, log cabins, a sleigh, and a country church. As always, a special Nativity scene is featured in order to emphasize the celebration of Christ's birth.
Missionaries at Winter Quarters delight in being able to tell non-member visitors about various aspects of the Church as they view the gingerbread houses.
"The temple replica is a big help in initiating gospel conversations," she said, "as is our Nativity scene."
The Johnsons speak warmly of the 11 referrals that resulted from last year's Gingerbread Parade, in addition to the city-wide publicity of the event itself that has helped the Church become better known.
"This event is becoming a holiday tradition," Sister Johnson said, "with people in the community calling and asking weeks in advance about the display."
One of the benefits from the annual event, according to Sister Skalla, is an increase in good feeling toward the Church in the Omaha area. This happens, she said, when members bring their neighbors and friends to see the display. "It's an easy and natural way to share our way of life with them," she said.
Community service is the final chapter of the Gingerbread Parade. The display period always ends a few days before Christmas, Sister Skalla said, so that the gingerbread creations can be delivered to hospitals, nursing homes and local retirement centers.
"People are getting so they expect us," she said. "Wrinkled hands reach out to touch, and eyes light up when we arrive with `their' gingerbread house.
"If this project only meant something in one of these areas, it would be worth all the work," Sister Skalla said. "But when it helps with three - missionary work, public relations and community service, it's definitely worth it."
