50th Gingerbread Sociable for Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Saturday’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Sociable at the Pomona Public Library was the 50th annual party to celebrate the “Little House on the Prairie” author. The big hit was the building of gingerbread houses from kits, thus combining 1) gingerbread, 2) crafts and 3) dessert, all in one activity.

The two-hour event drew about 35 children, said to be an increase from last year, with some parents saying they’d learned about the event from my column. (The library, not in the crowd-counting business, had told me there were 60 at last year’s, likely an over-estimate.) Children also heard fiddle music from the “Little House” period and a reading. Square dancing was offered on the patio, but no child went near it, just adults.

Below, children assemble their gingerbread houses, and at bottom, after yours truly chose the winners, the first-place winner, Gwenie Decker, 3, poses with her house and a standup. I suspect she had help with the house. But she also wore a period dress, and that was cute.

Some houses, which were held together with frosting, fell apart during construction. When I was making my rounds, the roof slid off one as I was examining it, and then a wall fell over. The girl whose house it was laughed. At the end of the contest, some children were already disassembling their houses and eating them.

Will there be a Sociable next year? Well, maybe.

Online, reader Connie Ryle Neumann writes: “Oh, I hope that the Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Social for her birthday will not come to an end! Particularly because next year, 2017, will be her 150th birthday anniversary — and LOTS of events will be planned. I hope that Pomona can continue this sweet tradition for many more generations of readers who love the Little House books.”

That’s a nice thought, although to be realistic, it’s doubtful that any child at the Sociable loved or even knew about the Little House books. But they did seem to have a good time, and maybe a future fan or two was created. Kudos to the Pomona Public Library and the Friends of the Library for continuing the tradition for a half-century.

Did you know the library’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Children’s Room is the letter L in my book “Pomona A to Z”?

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