One of the most eye-catching sights on Shoveller Drive, possibly in all of Suisun City, every December is VnA’s Gingy House, a home owned by Aaron Sencil and Vincent Tanciongco that is adorned with recycled materials each year to resemble a large gingerbread house.
The attraction was a big hit when it debuted in 2018 and has only grown larger each year, attracting families from throughout the region to drive or walk by and experience some of that sweet Christmas cheer. This year, the house has brought Sencil and Tanciongco to a national stage, as they will be competing on an episode of ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” which airs Monday.
The show, which debuted in 2013, pits families from throughout the country who have created elaborate Christmas displays in front of their homes for a chance to win a $50,000 prize after being reviewed by a panel of four judges.
Sencil said it has always been a “crazy dream” to compete on the show, as he and Tanciongco had been watching it since before they even started decorating the house. They were actually approached to appear on the show as far back as 2019 but turned it down.
“We were only a year or two old,” he said. “We just didn’t feel we were good enough to be on the show.”
About a year later, they were contacted again. Sencil said that, at the time, they were considering turning it down again because it was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the house was intended to be an interactive experience, but they ended up saying yes. A big part of it was because Sencil’s nieces and nephews were a year from going away to college, and Tanciongco’s father, who owns the house, had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
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“We were like, ‘OK, maybe we should do it because it would be one of the last times our family will all be together,” he said.
Sencil said the house might be one of the smaller ones to ever be featured on “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” but he and Tanciongco make up for it in use of space.
“We use every single inch of the house to put something there because we don’t have a lot to work with,” he said.
Sencil said he understood why the Gingy House was chosen for the show. From the start, he and Tanciongo have used a lot of recycled and upcycled materials such as pool noodles, insulation foam, Tupperware containers and even old campaign signs to create things like lollipops, gumdrops, gummy bears and Christmas trees.
“We don’t really buy anything that’s pre-made,” he said. “We make everything ourselves. We don’t want to look like a Home Depot ad. We want to make sure that it’s to our liking and to make just exactly how we want it, so I think those were some good selling points to be on the show and that’s why they’re interested.”
After explaining it to ABC talent scouts, Sencil said it was the first time he and Tanciongo felt their house was truly unique.
“We are different, and we are something special and we are capable to be on the show,” he said. “When they told us we were gonna be on it, we thought that was great, but at the same time, we were like, ‘OK, we have a lot to do.’”
The episode was filmed the day after Thanksgiving 2021, and Sencil said they had to be secretive about it, especially after taking down the previous month’s Halloween decorations.
“Right after Halloween, we swapped everything out within a good two weeks and then we had to be very strategic, very careful in how we switch from Halloween,” he said.
Normally, Sencil said his family does a big Thanksgiving get-together, but because everyone needed to have negative COVID tests to interact with the show’s cast and crew, they simply ordered fast food and set up the house for Christmas.
“We filmed for three days, and it was cool to see the neighbors out and cheering us on from afar,” he said. “it was very cold, it was very long, fulfilling days, but at the same time, it was a lot of fun.”
This year, Sencil said he and Tanciongco have rebuilt nearly the entire setup for longevity purposes, as some of the materials were damaged in storage.
“When we made this, we never thought it was gonna be anything,” he said. “We never thought about how to make it last longer.”
This year will utilize LED and energy-efficient lighting and add elements to make it more inclusive for all abilities, including an accessible ramp and making use of all the five senses, such as using peppermint-infused oil in the rocks and a chimney that pumps a cotton candy scent. The latter, Sencil said, was inspired by a blind girl who came to visit a previous year.
“There are children out there that are different, and we want them to have a magical holiday season too just like how everybody else should,” he said.
Despite the house being featured on a channel owned by the company, Sencil said this would be the first year VnA’s Gingy House would not feature any Disney music or references to Disney. Instead, he and Tanciongco composed a new theme song that will play over a loudspeaker as well as safety protocols presented in English and Spanish.
This is also the first year Sencil and Tanciongco have established a nonprofit, VnA Creatives Inc., that will support arts programs in the community.
Sencil was hoping to have the house set up and open to the public this weekend, but due to the likelihood of a rainstorm, the opening may need to be pushed back a bit. Nonetheless, people can get updates at Facebook.com/VnAsGingyHouse and Gingyhouse.com/home.
Sencil likes how the house has grown from about 10 visitors a night to between 600 to 800 people a night. He also likes how it brings people together.
“They’d probably never even crossed paths, but now they’re friends,” he said. “When the show is actually up and running, it’s just so amazing to see people just so happy to be here.”
The VnA Gingy’s House episode of “The Great Christmas Light Fight” will air at 9 p.m. Monday on ABC. It is also available to stream on Hulu and Disney Plus.
Source: www.mercurynews.com