NEW YORK, November 11, 2026 – Walk into the gallery at 1220 Fifth Avenue, and your nose gets the news first. Ginger, cinnamon, caramelized sugar. Then you spot the skyline, and it’s made of cookies.
Museum of the City of New York opened the fifth annual Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off to the public on Friday, November 6, following a media preview event on November 2. Iconic New York was this year’s theme which challenged the bakers to make the icons of the city out of gingerbread.
A skyline you could (theoretically) eat
Count ’em up and you get to nearly two dozen, says NY1. These include a Waldorf Astoria created by Brianna Farrell and a Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower made by Susanna Caliendo and Mario DiBiase. Think of the problems in engineering terms. The clock tower made of baked goods has nothing in the way of an iron structure to support it.
Top prize went to pastry chef and teacher Angela Carlucci, NY1 reports, and a Coney Island enthusiast at that! (What precisely did Angela build? The story I read does not specify, and I don’t want to make up anything.)
Some of the participants in this contest are not new faces. Loretta Bricchi Lee is participating for the fourth time this year and is making Times Square complete with scores of gingerbread people. She explained to NY1 that the contestants help each other out. That’s a good sign from a competition.
DiBiase was blunter about what the show has become. “It’s like the premier gingerbread installation in New York now,” he said, adding that it’s good for the museum. He’d know; he’s both a participant and, apparently, a fan.
Why a cookie skyline keeps drawing crowds
Holiday displays aren’t scarce in this town. So why this one? Partly because it’s personal. Each baker picks a corner of New York they love and shrinks it to something you can walk around.
The idea dates to 2022, when the museum invited bakeries and home bakers from each borough to celebrate their communities, as its archived exhibition page explains. Four years on, it fits the museum’s stated mission of exploring the people, places, and ideas that shape New York. A gingerbread brownstone makes that point faster than a wall label ever could.
Two more of this year’s bakers, Cesar Aldrete and Ricky Rotandi, appeared on NY1’s “Weekends On 1” the Sunday after opening to talk about their creations and the competition. Their designs weren’t described in the written report.
Planning a visit
One source claims the exhibit runs until mid-January, but I couldn’t find the actual closing date, the list of judges, or the cost of entry. Check out the museum’s website for the exhibition.
Honestly, the smell alone makes it worth the trip. You’ll leave hungry – and that’s on purpose.
