For 20 years, Paul Ganoe built houses you could live in. Now he makes houses you can eat.
The 70-year-old former bricklayer won this year's Historic Savage Mill gingerbread house contest with an 18-inch-tall fireplace topped with a cuckoo clock that sounds every hour.
"I'm 70 years old, and I'm going into my second childhood, I reckon," Mr. Ganoe said, looking at his prize-winning creation.
It's not the first time the Savage resident has won the 10-year-old Mill gingerbread house contest. Mr. Ganoe has placed first or second in the contest in six of the past seven years with such houses as an "Old Country Church" that played "Amazing
Grace," a working lighthouse and a replica of the Historic Laurel Train Station.
"Everyone is always impressed with his creativity," said Ellie Butehorn, a spokeswoman for the mill. "Everybody can make excuses why you can't do something. But, even at his age, he is still such an active and vibrant young man. That's an inspiration to all of us."
Mr. Ganoe's cuckoo-clock gingerbread house was one of 15 entries in four categories this year: professional, unusual, traditional and student. All are on display in the mill's New Weave Building through Dec. 31.
With a score of 94 out of a possible 100, Mr. Ganoe was the grand prize winner, receiving a $250 cash prize. Because of his high score, his gingerbread house was placed in a "professional" category, even though Mr. Ganoe says that he "just does it for a hobby."
"I don't care whether it's first place, second place or third," he said. "It's just a lot of fun."
It took Mr. Ganoe a week to build the cuckoo clock, laying dozens of one-inch gingerbread bricks for the fireplace where the clock sits. He sealed each crack using icing as mortar.
A button on the side of the cuckoo clock activates the timer on the cuckoo, causing it to pop out of the clock and sound the hour. The roof is made of chocolate wafers.
"Once he gets his mind set, get out of his way for a week," said Pam Horne, Mr. Ganoe's daughter. "He just has flour and gingerbread everywhere."
Everything visible on the house must be edible. Judges disqualified one of Mr. Ganoe's entries four years ago because he used plastic cake decorations in his design.
Ms. Horne and her husband, Greg, are in business with her parents. The two couples own J. P.'s Kake Korner, Inc., a Laurel wedding cake specialist.
Mr. Ganoe learned to decorate his gingerbread houses in cake-decorating classes taught by Ms. Horne. Then he combined the cake-decorating skills with his knowledge of bricklaying.
For years, Mr. Ganoe has had a passion for building houses. He has built a half-dozen houses in Savage since 1952, when he and his wife, Jean, moved to the town of 2,250. At that time, Savage was about the same size as their hometown of Romney, W.Va.
He was a bricklayer for 20 years before becoming a planner and estimator for the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda. He retired from that job in 1985.
Then he put his hands to work, making a wooden grandfather clock, cabinets, a rocking horse that won first prize in the 1993 Howard County fair as well as the gingerbread houses, which he usually gives away to a charity.
"I can't keep them too long," he said. "The mice will get into them. It's not something you can put in the garage."
But his other works, and awards, are displayed throughout his house.
"He's very gifted with his hands," Ms. Horne said. "He's just been blessed to do a lot of things."
Mr. Ganoealready is thinking about what he's going to build for next year's gingerbread house contest.
"That's what retirement is, being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it," Mr. Ganoe said. "It's better than sitting in a rocking chair."