This season, the sights, sounds and smells of the holidays come to life at the Santa Clarita Public Library with Gingerbread House building demonstrations, the second annual Gingerbread House Contest, and the “Meet the Dancers” Nutcracker Ballet event.

The Friends of the Santa Clarita Public Library invite Santa Clarita community members to roll up their sleeves and grab their frosting tube for FREE interactive Gingerbread House building demonstrations offered at all three branches. Participants will learn to build and create beautiful gingerbread houses from professional pastry chefs at these delicious events:

* Canyon Country Jo Anne Darcy Branch – Kake Kreations presents a demonstration from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight, November 20, 2014, located at 180601 Soledad Canyon Road.

* Valencia Branch – 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2014, located at 23743 W. Valencia Boulevard. The demonstration will be led by Pastry Chef Theresa Frederickson.

* Old Town Newhall Branch – Kake Kreations presents a demonstration from 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Monday, December 1, 2014 located at 24500 Main Street.

For more information about the Gingerbread house demonstrations visit SantaClaritaLibrary.com.

Residents of Santa Clarita can also put their gingerbread house building skills to the test at the Santa Clarita Public Library’s second annual Gingerbread House Contest. Viewing of the frosted masterpieces will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 6, 2014 and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at the Valencia Library Branch, located at 23743 W. Valencia Boulevard. The contest is free to enter and open to all ages.

All interested participants must fill out an entry form found here and deliver their gingerbread houses to the Valencia library branch between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Friday, December 5, 2014. For more information about the contest, visit SantaClaritaFOL.com.

In the spirit of the holiday season, the Santa Clarita Public Library will host a “Meet the Dancers” Nutcracker Ballet Event at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 30, 2014 at the Valencia branch and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at the Old Town Newhall Library branch.

These family-friendly events allow residents to meet and greet with costumed dancers from the Santa Clarita Ballet Company’s Nutcracker production. Participants can pose for pictures, ask questions and will enjoy a reading of the famous story The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman.

More information about all of these events can be found at SantaClaritaLibrary.com. For additional information, please contact Santa Clarita Public Library Marketing, PR and Special Projects Coordinator Robin Hoklotubbe at (661) 799-6135 or via email at rhoklotubbe@santaclaritalibrary.com.