As the Austin Parks and Recreation Department prepares to start its Fifth Annual Gingerbread History Heroes Program, it’s time to celebrate Texas history in the most joyous way possible. Austin residents will have the chance to create ornaments that depict notable historical individuals from the state starting on December 2 and continuing through the end of the month.The program will provide free salt dough gingerbread cookie ornaments and decorating materials at several historical locations throughout the city, according to a recent release from the City of Austin.
The locations on the list include the Asian American Resource Center, the Elisabet Ney Museum, the French Legation State Historic Site, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, the Old Bakery and Emporium, the Park Ranger Station at Zilker Caretaker’s Cottage, the Brush Square Museums, which is home to both the O. Henry Museum and the Susanna Dickinson Museum. With decoration kits in hand, participants can adorn their trees with ornaments modeled after political personalities like Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan or Texas celebrities like Selena and Lydia Mendoza, hanging from a festive branch.
Participants are invited to visit these locations and create an ornament honoring their favorite Texas heroes—people whose names have reverberated throughout the Lone Star State’s history. The historical personalities that participants might choose to celebrate with their craft include Joan Means Khabele, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Matt Gaines, Elisabet Ney, Doug Sahm, Gus Garcia, Walter Burton, Sam Houston, and others.
These ornaments, which can be fashioned in the likeness of significant Texans who have influenced the state’s course, add a personal touch to holiday décor. Whether they stand for iconic artists, civil rights activists, powerful politicians, or fearless guardians of the Texan heritage, each expertly created figure is sure to provide significance to Austinites’ Christmas festivities. A dimension of intergenerational connection is added to the ritual by inviting children to participate in honoring these figures.
Through these mementos of the state’s rich cultural legacy, the department’s free initiative aims to impart historical knowledge and a sense of pride, ensuring that Austin homes continue to tell and celebrate these heroes’ tales. The program is free, but the lessons and memories it can produce are invaluable.
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