MORGAN — Time is the secret to building prize-winning gingerbread houses, Jennifer Vesper says.

The high-level gingerbread competitor organized the gingerbread house competition held Saturday at the Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration on Commercial Street in the historic section of downtown Morgan.

About 700 people attended the event, which featured Santa and Mrs. Claus riding downtown on top of a Morgan County fire truck, followed by the lighting of a Christmas tree.

Buzzy’s Café, now for sale, was packed with the gingerbread houses. Other vacant businesses — all with sparkling wood floors scrubbed and polished by the Christmas committee — were used for craft exhibits, but most of the 27 vendors were in tents on the other side of the street. The majority of items for sale were handmade by Morgan residents.

Gingerbread houses were judged on originality, creative use of materials, difficulty of building and structural integrity. Every part of every house had to be edible, Vesper said.

There was a 3-foot-tall gingerbread tower modeled after the Rapunzel fairy tale, with a stained-glass window made from a fondant mosaic, and a trailing length of blonde hair. Rapunzel had apparently just left.

The tower’s maker, Krystal Bybee, of Morgan, won the mayor’s choice and people’s choice awards.

There were also the more typical gingerbread cabins and cottages decorated with royal frosting, which Vesper said is a hard frosting made out of meringue powder, powdered sugar and water.

Krista Johansen, of Morgan, built the entire town of Whoville, complete with a peppermint archway that welcomed visitors. The Grinch — like Rapunzel, he was also absent — had his hill from where he could spy on the residents.

Johansen won the judged portion of the competition.

“They’re really hard to choose from,” said Lindsey Jones, a Porterville gingerbread judge.

Amanda Allen and family won the family category for the “Angry Birds” gingerbread home.

First place in the 12-and-under category went to Rachel Wheelwright, 10.

Kimberly Vesper, 9, took second place.

“She did it all by herself,” her mother said. “I was too busy to help her, even if I’d wanted to.”

As organizer, Vesper felt she was not eligible to judge or compete, but she admired the skill and patience the competitors showed.

“I don’t know how long they took, but I spent 72 hours on mine,” she said.

Vesper was recently awarded second place in the Ivory Homes competition, where she earned $500 for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and $225 for the Utah Food Bank.