It was just a question. “What’s the one thing you've always wanted to do around this time of year that you've never done?” Patrick Mulcahy was asked this in 2006 while working on the technical aspects of a theater production at the Duluth Playhouse. “For the life of me I can’t remember why I answered it this way, but I said, 'well, I've always wanted to build a gingerbread house.'”
Mulcahy was quick to rectify this missing aspect of his life. And that was the beginning. Since then. Mulcahy has taken big bites into gingerbread building, having constructed an edible Split Rock Lighthouse, Aerial Lift Bridge, and Glensheen Mansion. There's a planning process for these builds - and there's a commitment to the bake as well. “We started the oven, and we turned it off 12 hours later,” says Mulcahy of the Glensheen build.
In addition to building, Mulcahy also offers his talents to community and youth gatherings and organizations. "The best is... coming to a school... and just the experience of watching the kids' faces through the entire process," says Mulcahy. He admits that older kids aren't as easily enthused by the project, but they all come around. "You see that transformation after they start doing it... it is so exciting to see that."
