The Historic Dundalk Holiday Hoopla 2012 on December 1 was bigger and better than ever, judging from the size and enthusiam of the huge crowds who watched the parade, visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus in Heritage Park, enjoyed the activities at the Center Street Holiday Street Fair and went on the annual Cookie Tour. The U.S. Marines gathered 1-1/2 large cartons of gifts for Toys for Tots, nearly 5,000 cookies were baked by volunteers and distributed, and the Dundalk-Patapsco Neck Historical Society and Museum Train Garden welcomed 1,100 visitors.

Dundalk Renaissance Corporation thanks the Dundalk-Eastfield Rec Council for their sponsorship of the parade and the Santa visits, the ESOL students at Dundalk High for decorating the gingerbread house and Baltimore Towing Co. for putting the 6' X 10' house in place, students at Sollers Point Tech, Dundalk High and High Road Schools and the volunteer DRC Baking Brigade for cookies, the kids in the JOINS program and many other individuals who helped with Main Street trash cleanup and other parts of the event. 

The Cookie Contest attracted 37 entrants for 8 categories, and a 5-judge panel diligently discussed and ranked them all in order to select the winners. Prizes are gift cards from Mars Supermarkets, Inc., and the winners, based on total points earned, are:

Best Overall Pumpkin Cookies Dolores Stump

Best Decorated Christmas Mice Cookies Dottie Cristy

Best Gourmet Candy Cane Cookies Angel Ball

5 ingredients or less Sebastian Lopez Crunchy Choc. Candy Cookie

No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Angel Ball

1st Place Traditional Spicy Sugar Cookies Ronnie Patterson

2nd Place Traditional Madeleines Ronnie Patterson

3rd Place Traditional Thumbprints E.M. Christensen

This annual free community event is under the leadership of DRC's Community Projects Coordinator, Leah Bunck. She's already planning for Holiday Hoopla 2013!