WHO WE ARE
The Port Gingerbread Festival is based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It was founded in 2023 by a group of local enthusiasts who have enjoyed building and competing in contests together for many years. They launched the first Festival in collaboration with Greater Newburyport Village, Inc., a community-based non-profit organization that served as fiscal and presenting sponsor. Four other essential pillars of community support then came into play: (1) generous financial contributions from local businesses and individual donors; (2) enthusiastic help from other non-profit groups which spread the word about this new opportunity for creativity and celebration; (3) a spirited and talented group of gingerbread makers, of course! and (4) more than 1,000 visitors whose smiles of delight were a great reward for our effort. All of this participation encouraged us to believe that the Port Gingerbread Festival will become a cherished holiday tradition. With that in mind, the group was incorporated in 2023 as an independent non-profit organization. As Port Gingerbread Festival, Inc., it was granted tax-exempt certification by the IRS.
Board of Directors
Mary Dissette, President, has loved making gingerbread creations with family and friends for more than 20 years. Convinced that gingerbread art-making is good for the soul, she rallied kindred spirits to found the Port Gingerbread Festival to spread enthusiasm, know-how and good will in the community. A resident of Newburyport since 1989, Mary enjoyed a career in non-profit organization management, especially in start-ups of community-based lifelong learning programs. Mary earned degrees from Harvard University (Ed.M.), George Washington University (J.D.), and Boston College (B.A.).
Christine Young, Treasurer, is a resident of West Newbury. She came to gingerbreading while homeschooling her three children. Her friend Mary’s passion helped infuse a cross-disciplinary interpretation of a confectionery Wampanoag village. She appreciates the creative ideation and ingenuity inherent in concocting gingerbread works of art and doesn’t mind that they are also delicious. Christine attended Middlebury College (B.A.) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (M.D.), and works as a physician at Mass General Brigham Community Physicians.
Mike Dissette, Clerk, continues to resist complete retirement from law practice, enjoying too much the wrangling of clients and contractors over construction projects. Since 2003, Mike has served as chairman of Newburyport’s Community Preservation Committee, working closely with City Hall and many of the city’s non-profit organizations to fund projects relating to affordable housing, historic preservation and open space. Nowadays, he assists The Resettlement Partnership, an incipient local organization dedicated to aiding forcibly displaced persons. For fun and fresh air, he volunteers at the New England Equine Rescue farm, wrangling with horses and donkeys for the privilege of raking their paddocks. Long an accomplice in his family’s gingerbread projects, he stepped up in 2023 to make a replica of a local landmark stone tower for the first Festival. Mike earned degrees at the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) and Villanova University (J.D.).
Kendra Coulehan, Director, lives in Amesbury and works as a Sourcing Data Analyst at Harvey Performance Company in Rowley, where she enjoys building reports and models with data. Previously, she worked as an architect in both Chelsea, Massachusetts and Anchorage, Alaska. Feeling the pull of the North Shore, she settled in Georgetown to raise her two children. Now that they have flown the nest, Kendra utilizes her building and planning skills to help grow the Port Gingerbread Festival, giving back to a city that has given her much joy. Kendra earned degrees from Washington University (B.A.) and the University of Texas at Austin (M.A., Architecture).
Contact Us: info@portgingerbread.org
“Team Gingerbread”, our planning and operations team
Lois Ascher
Kendra Coulehan
Mary Dissette
Michael Dissette
Barbara Dowd
Tracey Fortier
Bill Franz
Jennifer Kyte
Kathleen Melanson
Diane Simmons
Myra Suraci
Christine Young