Riverhead BID unveils gingerbread house on wheels
The Riverhead Business Improvement District is set to unveil its newest toy at the 12th Annual Old Fashioned Bonfire and Holiday Celebration Dec. 10.
It’s a gingerbread house, on wheels, with a giant Santa welded onto the front of it.
“It’s really cool,” said BID member Ed Densieski, who came up with the idea along with BID president Ray Pickersgill.
The Gingerbread House is about 12 feet tall, and 16 feet long, and weighs 1,200 pounds. It features a giant Santa on the front of it, a propane fireplace inside, snowflakes on the inside walls and hanging paper dovers that appear to fly. It also has a place for kids to greet Santa, and Santa’s workshop, in case he needs to make some last-minute adjustments to the toys.
“It’s basically a gingerbead house that was built on top of a trailer, so it’s mobile,” Mr. Denieski said. “Kids can come in and greet Santa Claus, and it looks like a real gingerbread house, inside and outside.”
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The house was designed by Matt Targon of Miller Place. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you probably recognize his shop on Route 25 in Calverton, where he’s built vehicles that look like everything from giant cupcake mobiles to rolling hero sandwiches. His business is called Wow Promotional Vehicles.
“We wanted an artist who had the imagination to create this,” Mr. Pickersgill said. “We wanted something that other towns don’t have.”
The BID has been working on the project since last winter, and they spend about $14,000 on the gingerbread house, Mr. Densieski said.
In the past, the BID used a shed that local builder Ray Dickhoff built for the BID at no charge to house Santa Claus at the bonfire, Mr. Densieski said.
He said the BID will next start developing a policy for allowing other groups to use the gingerbread house as well.
“We certainly would like for other people to enjoy this too,” Mr. Densieski said.
The bonfire this year is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10 in the Peconic River parking lot in downtown Riverhead.
The gingerbread house will be there.
“We think it gonna make the holiday bonfire that much better of an event,” Mr. Densieski said. “And its a fantastic way to get people to come to downtown Riverhead in the winter.”
