The gingerbread house at Henderson Park and the nearby Christmas train in Chehalis have become beloved holiday landmarks, drawing the attention of hundreds of passersby every holiday season.
“(We) wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and a happy Thanksgiving, not necessarily in that order,” Terry Harris said Monday, Nov. 24, after he and his family and friends spent the weekend decorating the gingerbread house and putting up the Christmas train.
Harris, who was the grand marshal of last year’s Santa Parade, has been involved in Chehalis’ holiday decorations since he was on the Chehalis City Council, beginning in the early 2000s.
Harris, along with Book ‘n’ Brush owner David Hartz and Patty Kaija of Kaija's Garden and Pet, were part of a three-member “Christmas committee” that spruced up the city’s Christmas decorations between 2007 and 2009. Part of their work involved purchasing the metal Christmas train and decorating the old pump house next to the Chehalis Parks and Recreation department building in Chehalis for the holidays.
Harris and his family fell in love with the decorating work the first year the gingerbread house and Christmas train went up in 2009, and have voluntarily committed to redoing the decorations every year since.
“It’s always decorated differently because the grandkids do it,” Harris said of the gingerbread house.
Roughly 15 volunteers, including the children, volunteered to decorate the gingerbread house on Saturday, Nov. 23, Harris said.
The same group of eight or so adults put up the Christmas train the Sunday after the gingerbread house goes up every year.
The gingerbread house and Christmas train always go up the weekend before Thanksgiving and remain up through the holiday season.
The gingerbread house is located at 1321 S. Market Blvd. in Chehalis.
