JW Marriott debuts Gingerbread Junction for holiday season

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) - The JW Marriott Desert Springs in Palm Desert kicked off the holiday season with the debut of its Gingerbread Junction, a lobby installation created in part by local high school students.

This year's display features gingerbread homes designed and built by students from La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, and Coachella Valley high schools. They're competing for top votes.

The houses took over a month to plan and build the hotel, also hosting a pop-up of Dom's baked goods run by the resort's executive pastry chef.

"It was very important for us to highlight our culinary talents, especially within our baking and pastry department, but this year we also wanted to connect with the community and involve the community," said Dominque Valenzuela, executive pastry chef at the JW Marriott.

"I really love baking and pastry, so I was very inclined to help out. Then we did a, um, we kind of had a design meeting where we just kind of spilled out all the ideas that we had. We also needed to establish what kind of candy we needed and how much gingerbread we needed to build the entire house," said Melanie Castellon, a La Quinta High School student.

The gingerbread junction and pop-up shop is open weekends 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., with daily hours starting December 20 through New Year's Day. Guests can also enjoy holiday boat rides, festive decor, and meet and greets with Santa and Mrs. Claus later this month.