Gingerbread NYC is back at the Museum of the City of New York: a Coney Island Cyclone wins, and it's free on Wednesdays

The city's landmarks are back in gingerbread. Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off, the Museum of the City of New York's holiday show, opened to the public on Friday, Nov. 6, for its fifth year, and stays up through Monday, Jan. 18, 2027, according to the museum.

This year's theme is "Iconic New York." Professional and amateur bakers from all five boroughs were asked to recreate a building, place or thing that represents their neighborhood, community or borough. Each selected baker got a $500 stipend for materials, the museum's call for bakers says.

The winners

Judges Bobbie Lloyd of Magnolia Bakery, restaurateur Melba Wilson, Amy Scherber of Amy's Bread and the Met's Nadine Orenstein picked the prizes:

• Best Overall: Angela Carlucci's Coney Island Cyclone, which also won Good Enough to Eat and Best Borough Spirit for Brooklyn, and shared Most Unique and Most Realistic.
• Most Unique (shared): César Aldrete and Ricky Rotandi's Little Island.
• Most Realistic (shared): Chiara Klein and Diggle's Ariemma's Italian Deli, also Best Borough Spirit for Staten Island.
• Best Borough Spirit: Juliet Galea's Bronx Beats (the Bronx); Adam B. Shapiro's Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden (Queens); Brianna Farrell's Waldorf Astoria and the Little Island team (Manhattan).

Visitors can vote for a People's Choice winner through a QR code during the run, 6sqft reported.

What else is on the table

The 22 displays include Central Park's Belvedere Castle and its historic restroom, the Empire State Building, Grand Central, the Oculus, Times Square, the Little Red Lighthouse, the Metropolitan Opera House, the main New York Public Library building, the High Line's "Dinosaur" sculpture, Nathan's Famous, the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and takeout from Flushing's Chinatown.

"New Yorkers find their city in its landmarks and its literature, and just as surely in the breakfast they carry to work," museum chief operating officer Jerry Gallagher said in the museum's announcement.

Plan your visit

• Where: Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street, across from Central Park. The 6 train stops at 103rd Street, three blocks east.
• Hours: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., per the museum's visit page, which also says it stays open late on Wednesdays until 9 p.m.
• Adjusted hours: closing at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18; closed all day Saturday, Nov. 21; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
• Tickets: adults $23, seniors $18, students $14, 18 and under free. New York City residents pay what they can, and Wednesdays are free for everyone; free Wednesday tickets are only at the ticket counter. Admission includes all exhibitions.