For the fifth year in a row, Taste of Home is partnering with Folgers on its annual Gingerbread Boulevard experience.
But this year, the event will have more food programming.
Jason Sinclair, vice president of marketing at Taste of Homepublisher Trusted Media Brands, felt that a “food element was missing” in previous years, he told Publishers Daily.
Taste of Home “has always been about creating new family memories,” Sinclair said, “and what’s more memorable than enjoying some of our most popular holiday recipes while sipping Folger’s coffee inside of a life-sized gingerbread house?”
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Starting Wednesday, November 28, visitors can sign up on TasteofHome.com for a chance to win a dessert or brunch tasting held within the house (the experiential activation will run from Dec. 6 to 19 at Madison Square Park).
Winners of the lottery-style sign-up will have an exclusive catered dessert tasting or brunch held within the Gingerbread House. Each winner can bring up to three additional guests.
Beginning Dec. 6, visitors can also sign up directly at the Gingerbread Boulevard holiday kiosk in Madison Square Park.
Twenty winners will be selected and notified on Dec. 11.
The tastings will include coffee pairings from Folgers. Folgers coffee will also be passed out at the tree lighting ceremony on December 6.
Visitors can get inside the matching sleigh outside the Gingerbread House for photos, as well as come by to peek in the house's windows and see the decorations around it.
Last year, the installation featured an interactive gingerbread house; in past years, smaller gingerbread houses dotted the park’s landscape.
The brand also had added a series of “social media steps” in 2017, to get visitors to post photos to Instagram using #gingerbreadblvd. Taste of Home chose its favorite photos and shared them across its social media platforms -- a way to promote the brand and Gingerbread Boulevard.
Taste of Home’s Gingerbread Boulevard usually attracts over 300,000 visitors.