Sunday December 12, 2010

Feature Story

Gingerbread Gentlemen

Minter Gardens donates $1000 to hospital

Craig Hill/Voice photos

Brian Minter (R) holds cheque Ken Popove (L) won for best decorated gingerbread house contest at Minter Gardens Saturday. The money is going to the Chilliwack General.

ine gingerbread men ran as fast as they can in the Gentleman's Gingerbread Invitational at Minter Country Gardens on Young Rd. Saturday.

It was a very civil duel. No pistols drawn, not even any icing was flung in the house decorating event pitting a cross-section of Chilliwack's business and political personalities against each other with a prize of $1000 to a charity of their choice from the popular garden store.

Contestants bobbed and weaved their magic in the exhilarating competition, calling to helper elves who scampered for supplies in front of a crowd of about 100 people.

The contest produced some very unexpected results because, in addition to oodles of icing and cupfuls of candies, organizers threw in a wild card — a secret ingredient in a paper bag to incorporate into their dream homes.

The crowd roared when Chilliwack mortgage broker Steve Brouwer joined the lineup and unveiled an arsenal of handyman power tools hidden under his coat.

The houses were judged overall on merits of design, overall creativity, overall appearance, use of board area, attention to detail along with how they used their secret ingredient.

In the end, Ken Popove bested the competition with his house and the Chilliwack General Hospital was the lucky recipient of the $1k cheque courtesy of Brian Minter.

Gents and Elves

Richard Procee, from Hoefsted's Country Barn, with Gale Smith (Salvation Army)

Coun. Chuck Stam, City Hall (for Ruth and Naomi's)

Ken Popove, Business Improvement Assoc. (Chilliwack General Hospital)

Barry Penner, Chilliwack-Hope MLA (Campaign for Healthcare Excellence)

Scott Riley, 98.3 StarFm with Lisa Stevens (Chilliwack SPCA)

Brian Coombes, Tourism Chilliwack with Joldie Hayes

Glen Slingerland, 89.5 Hawk Radio with Sade

Steve Anderson, Chilliwack SR. Sec. School (for Mennonite Central Church)

Steven Brouwer, Entrust Mortgage with Marianne Hanson, (Unity School)

The houses will be on view until Christmas at Minter Gardens, 10015 Young Rd.

See the photo gallery below.

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