Deseret Book revives ZCMI window tradition
Years ago, downtown holiday shoppers crowded around the ZCMI department store windows in downtown Salt Lake City in December to marvel at the annual candy display.
The popular displays, first presented in 1972, were revived after ZCMI was sold in 1999, but only for short periods of time. ZCMI didn’t always display candy creations in its six windows, sometimes opting for other types of holiday scenes at its store, 36 S. Main St.
Now, Deseret Book is reviving the spirit of that tradition with the inaugural "Mechanics of Christmas" display at its downtown store, 45 W. South Temple, across the street from the south gates of Temple Square.
This installment is the whimsical and magical "Gingerbread Cookie Factory."
The larger-than-life window display is 25 feet long and 12 feet tall and took four months to build.
The bookstore’s high-tech video display features flames in the "oven," and hidden speakers and scent-emitters round out the multisensory experience. The final product is a Victorian-style cookie factory with several moving parts that takes viewers through the process of gingerbread cookie making, complete with a complimentary Christmas treat at the end.
Deseret Book also is selling $1 cups of hot chocolate to visitors with a free cookie to warm them for their visits to the Lights at Temple Square.
A short video documenting the creation of the machine can be found on Deseret Book’s YouTube channel at http://bit.ly/rTWtrG.
An extended version can also be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Njtz4DUMkU.
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