Smitty, the Texas-sized Gingerbread Man


“Run, run, run as fast as you can

You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”

     Well, actually it’s pretty easy to catch up with THIS gingerbread man.

     In 2006, the organizer of Smithville Texas’ annual Festival of Lights event baked up a delicious plan to take their celebration to the next level – by baking the world’s largest gingerbread cookie!

     Mixing together 750 pounds of flour, 49 gallons of molasses and 72 dozen (separated!) eggs, they created a Texas-sized gingerbread man. They n immense cookie sheet baked the 1,307 pound fellow on an immense cookie sheet over a dump truck load of charcoal (take THAT Food Network!) and then raised him with a crane to the 65 degree angle required by the folks at Guinness World Records for consideration.

     Phew!

     The staff at Guinness officially recognized the spied feat in the 2009 edition of their record book.

     Now . . . how to memorialize the achievement? The Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Smithville had the cookie sheet used to bake the gigantic gingerbread man converted into an enormous, 20-foot tall metal replica of the cookie, and the townspeople affectionately dubbed him “Smitty.”

     He stands in the town park making sure visitors can celebrate the spirit of Christmas all year long. Heads up, though, even though he towers over the park, he’s a bit hidden from the street by the trees in the park so you’ll have to get out of you car to see him in all his gingerbread-y glory.