LONG BEACH, Calif. — A baking tradition rises in two spots this year in Long Beach.

It takes a village to build a village. Isaac Salgado led a team of volunteers to make a huge creation out of gingerbread and candy.

"I enjoy the smiles that it brings to people’s faces,” Salgado said.

Salgado is a father and small business owner who long ago put his culinary aspirations behind him. However, once a year he goes back to his roots by mixing hundreds of pounds of butter, sugar and flour out of his home to make public gingerbread village displays. His only motivation is to spark a little joy.

The tradition started almost a decade ago, but each year, the design and location change. Orsa Modica, owner of Modica’s Deli, eagerly volunteered her restaurant’s dining room.

“I wanted to do it to lift the morale in the community and the spirit and bring Christmas spirit to our east village here, downtown Long Beach,” said Modica.

Modica inherited her late grandmother’s Christmas decorations. Last year, for the first time in a while, she unpacked them and put them out for everyone to see. She wanted to do more than put out the same thing this time around. Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible, but most dining is now outside, so there’s room for more.

There are benefits to having a gingerbread village in the window: It stops passersby in their tracks.

"That’s exactly what I’m hoping for," said Salgado. "I’m hoping that people that have never seen a village made out of sugar before could experience it."

The first gingerbread village of the season was installed in the historic Bembridge House earlier this month.