{"id":423415,"date":"2025-12-04T05:19:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T05:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423415\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T05:19:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T05:19:20","slug":"see-the-worlds-largest-gingerbread-village-in-chelsea-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423415\/","title":{"rendered":"See the world’s largest gingerbread village in Chelsea this month"},"content":{"rendered":"

From nutcrackers\u00a0to snowmen\u00a0and donut shops\u00a0to department stores, the Guinness World Record\u2013holding gingerbread village, GingerBread Lane is back once more for the holiday season in New York City. With 700 gingerbread structures, the newest installment of GingerBread Lane<\/a> is now on\u00a0display in Chelsea for all to admire, and it’s free to visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year’s village\u00a0pays tribute to New York City’s roots with gingerbread subways, a yellow taxi cab and a\u00a0nod to the 34th Street Macy’s store. As a celebration of the city’s diversity, GingerBread Lane creator Jon Lovitch has included a gingerbread house\u00a0for everyone\u2014featuring spots like a matzo ball shop, a halal restaurant and gingerbread dreidels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED: The best Christmas markets in NYC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nPhoto: By Amy Ellison for Time Out <\/p>\n

Lovitch first started GingerBread Lane 32 years ago, shortly\u00a0after graduating from high school in the ’90s. Back then, it was a much smaller display and served as a “side hustle” for Lovitch while he worked full-time as an executive chef. As the years went on, GingerBread Lane got bigger and bigger\u2014both physically and in popularity.<\/p>\n

“About\u00a011 years ago, I was like, ‘I can’t keep doing both [being a chef and making GingerBread Lane]. I have to pick one\u00a0or the other,'” Lovitch tells\u00a0Time Out.\u00a0“So I picked the fun one.”\u00a0Now, Lovitch\u00a0dedicates\u00a0his time\u00a0completely to the project. For him, Christmas never really ends; he spends nearly every day planning, baking\u00a0and\u00a0building,\u00a0starting\u00a0work\u00a0on the next year\u2019s batch of houses\u00a0just weeks after the current one is unveiled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lovitch’s own family\u00a0sometimes makes a cameo in the gingerbread town. This year, his seven-year-old daughter even has a\u00a0toy shop named after her. “I try to incorporate things that I like into the exhibit,”\u00a0Lovitch says. While shopping at a Hobby Lobby with his wife one day, he spotted a set of nutcrackers that inspired him. “I thought, ‘that’s a really pretty nutcracker,’ and bam, it’s in the exhibit.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nPhoto: By Amy Ellison for Time Out <\/p>\n

The candy cane shop, he says, was inspired by a Christmas village he saw in Connecticut\u00a0“I’m constantly taking pictures\u2014I have a folder on my phone just called GingerBread Lane ideas.” This year’s display also features a Thanksgiving caf\u00e9 and a coffee shop dedicated purely to pumpkin spice.<\/p>\n

What’s kept Lovitch going after 32 years? Really, it’s the people, he says.\u00a0The ones who stop to take in every detail, who light up at the sight of it, who snap\u00a0photos and videos, or even just pause for a moment to look. “There’s so much bad stuff going on in the world and to know you’re creating a nice little escapist-quality sort of thing feels great,” he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can see GingerBread Lane on display now at the Starrett-Lehigh Building (601 West 26th Street),\u00a0next to Olly Olly Market. And as\u00a0a special\u00a0treat to celebrate this year’s GingerBread Lane exhibit, Lovitch will once again host gingerbread-making classes on December 14, 17 and 20 at Olly Olly Market in Chelsea. Tickets will be $35 per person; check back soon for a link to purchase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From nutcrackers\u00a0to snowmen\u00a0and donut shops\u00a0to department stores, the Guinness World Record\u2013holding gingerbread village, GingerBread Lane is back once…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":423416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1037,29645,18634,41800,15290,10784,10782,18625,10785,18626,10783,18627,37720,37719,405,403,29646,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-423415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-categories-art","11":"tag-family-kids-good-for-kids","12":"tag-good-for-good-for-a-rainy-day","13":"tag-good-for-good-for-couples","14":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-in-a-group","15":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-solo","16":"tag-good-for-good-for-going-with-friends","17":"tag-good-for-good-for-locals","18":"tag-good-for-good-for-taking-parents","19":"tag-good-for-good-for-tourists","20":"tag-good-for-vibe-beautiful","21":"tag-good-for-vibe-quirky","22":"tag-more-free","23":"tag-new-york","24":"tag-new-york-city","25":"tag-news-art","26":"tag-newyork","27":"tag-newyorkcity","28":"tag-ny","29":"tag-nyc","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}