’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the city,
Traffic engineers were busy frosting gingerbread and sculpting fondant so pretty.
With candy and icing and plans on display,
They engineered sweet houses in a festive array!
HUNTSVILLE — What began as a simple Traffic Engineering department team-building project five years ago has become one of the department’s most anticipated annual traditions.
The 2025 Traffic Engineering Gingerbread House Contest once again focused on team collaboration, creativity, patience and a healthy dose of friendly competition to the department.
“When I started with Traffic Engineering in 2021, I was looking for ways to team build and create camaraderie across the different working units of our department,” said Hannah Fralish Brown, Traffic Operations manager. “I threw out the idea of a gingerbread house contest and was incredibly surprised by the amount of participation we had that first year. Each year we’re impressed by how much our team grows from this activity.”
More than Gingerbread
Employees are placed in teams with coworkers who they typically do not work with to encourage the entire department to get to know one another better. This also allows for shared problem-solving and fresh perspectives, Brown said.
The contest also has strict rules requiring everything but the foundation and lighting effects to be built entirely from edible materials. Their finished works of edible art are judged by other departments and community members on originality, creativity, level of design difficulty, consistency of themes and presentation style.
“Allowing expression of creativity and encouraging employees to think outside of their normal job tasks is incredibly important in creating a positive work culture and in building a cohesive department,” said Traffic Engineering Director Nicholas Nene. “This activity grows leadership skills, communication skills and time management skills. It gives our department a positive morale boost and is something we all look forward to every year.”
The gingerbread contest reflects the department’s broader approach to collaboration and innovation.
“What you see in this contest is the same mindset our team brings to their work every day – problem-solving, teamwork and creativity,” Nene said. “It’s fun, but it’s also meaningful. These activities strengthen relationships, builds trust across teams and reminds us that great work happens when our employees have shared experiences.”
Building Strong Foundations
This year’s entries ranged from whimsical to wildly imaginative, and each was accompanied by a team-written presentation that explained the theme, inspiration, materials and challenges for the judges. Teams built their masterpieces after work, during lunch and on weekends and holidays.
“This is an event that shows who we are as a department,” Brown said. “It brings people together, sparks creativity, encourages patience and energizes our team for the next year.”
With five years and countless gingerbread crumbs behind it, the Traffic Engineering Gingerbread House Contest continues to prove that sometimes the strongest foundations are built with icing, imagination and a whole lot of teamwork.
Meet the Bakers, Houses and Stories
The most used edible building materials included pretzels, gumdrops, moldable chocolate, fondant/icing, cereal and of course gingerbread. But the biggest ingredient among all entries was patience. While the judges tallied scores based on creativity and craftsmanship, the real success of the contest was already clear.
One person from each team shared the story of their gingerbread house with the judges. Below are excerpts of each presentation:
Team 1: Gipson Acres (2nd Place)
A long-awaited Waffle House finally arrived in the fictional community of Gipson Acres, complete with a vertical sign that proved to be one of the team’s biggest build challenges. Gipson Acres is a community that considers themselves family, and as family, they were in desperate need of a place where they could gather for Holidays. Where better to celebrate Christmas than Waffle House? Ingredients include gingerbread (of course) graham cracker, Oreos, ginger snap cookies, rock candies, and all the icing. The massive Waffle House post sign was made using pretzels wrapped in fondant. The team spent a total of about 58 hours to create their gingerbread board.
Team 2: Traffic Engineering Danger Zone
A tongue-in-cheek gingerbread depiction of a traffic accident scene outside the Traffic Engineering building was complete with a drone mishap, cell tower and plenty of engineering humor. “Despite the best engineering judgement, our drone was damaged beyond repair due to line-of-sight issues, causing the drone to strike the cell tower northeast of the location and ultimately comes to rest atop Traffic Engineering’s office,” Team 2 explained. Their most unique ingredient was fruit roll ups to hang the traffic signals, and the most difficult aspect was keeping the traffic poles upright under the weight of the fruit rollups. Project review and construction time was 50-gingerbread man hours.
Team 3: Winter Shores
Inspired by the outdoors and wintery coastal vibes, this peaceful scene featured a lighthouse made of Moon Pies, Rice Krispies terrain, and resident characters like Mr. Penguin and Gingy the boat captain. The snow was made from powdered sugar and coconut. The team noted that, “If you’re looking to fish off the dock, from the boat, or just relaxing by the lighthouse or in the cozy lodge, this is your place!” Gingerbread board build time took the team about 12 hours.
Team 4: A Bikini Bottom Christmas! (1st Place)
“Aye aye, mateys! Gather ‘round and lend yer good ear to Patchy the Pirate, as I spin ye a holiday yarn straight from the briny deep!” One of the most detailed gingerbread builds, this SpongeBob SquarePants–themed creation brought Bikini Bottom to life with colorful sculpted characters, edible paint and iconic locations like the Krusty Krab, the sneaky ol’ Chum Bucket, and SpongeBob’s pineapple abode—crafted from the finest rice crispy treats a humble fry cook’s salary could buy. Patrick’s rock? Why, that be made of chocolate cake, ‘cause that starfish’d eat anything sweet that didn’t swim away first! The team shared that by Blackbeard’s stopwatch, this grand endeavor took the crew about 79 hours combined to build—not countin’ the first day they spent arguin’ like true pirates over what theme to choose!
Team 5: Mousey Mayhem (3rd Place and Winner of the internal popular vote)
This whimsical gingerbread setting is a playful nod to “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, popularly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”, by Clement Clarke Moore. The festive gingerbread house is the playground of holiday mischief in a classic game of cat and mouse. The team proudly shared that the highly sculpted kitten and mouse are made from modeling chocolate, and inside the kitten is an armature of peppermint sticks and Rice Krispy treats to help keep its pose and shape. The elaborate gingerbread board took about 58 hours to build.
Team 6: Santa’s Workshop
A classic holiday theme designed to allow every team member to contribute. The workshop features oversized presents made from Wheat Thins and dozens of tiny presents made from hand dyed sugar cubes to prevent melting. Ice cream cones were meticulously iced into festive trees. The most difficult part of the design was the assembly and maintaining multi story building structure. This project took the team approximately 40 hours.
Team 7: A Homestead for the Holidays
A rustic log cabin symbolizes generations of family country life, fresh baked pies cooling by the window and memories of a simpler time. Unique materials included Sun Chips for a tin roof and Shredded Wheat for hay. The team shared that while time may have taken its toll on this proud structure, family and love keep it inviting and warm. This build took the team about 40 man-hours to complete.
Carrie Rice is a communication specialist for the city of Huntsville.
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