There’s Something Sweet about the DC Chocolate Festival!

The DC Chocolate Festival is back for its 3rd year and packed with family fun! The DC Chocolate Festival is split into two blocks. The morning block from 10am-2pm is family friendly. The evening block from 3pm-7pm is adults only and a great date night option. New this year is the Kid’s Corner in the main exhibit hall. The Kid’s Corner had cocoa coloring sheets, ballon twisters, face painting and informational materials. There was a chocolate fountain and photo booth that were also a big hit with families. There was a scavenger hunt to do while tasting your way through the vendors for older elementary school aged kids. Many of the vendors had informational material about the bean to bar process and ALL had very tasty products! For older kids and adults there are classes and workshops covering the bean to bar process.

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As we made our way through the exhibit hall there were some vendors that really stood out as very family friendly. River-Sea had some awesome visuals on the bean to bar process, stickers for kids, stuffed sloths galore and tons of information about how chocolate can be grown and produced sustainably. Puna Chocolate is grown in Hawaii, which shines through in the flavors and aloha spirit. Harper Macaw has a focus on conservation, quality chocolate and the community. We are excited to plan a visit to the DC factory! Michel Cluizel had beautiful novelties and bars with the extras on top of each bar which was very interesting for the kids. The have a factory in Pennsylvania with awesome activities for kids including painting chocolate bars. John & Kira’s had colorful truffles in exciting shapes like ladybugs, butterflies and bumble bees. For the parents they have figs filled with a whiskey ganache. Pacari had some delicious chocolate covered fruit bits (including banana and golden berry) our kids went bananas for! Sacha Gold shared lots of information about their farm in Ecuador and had chocolate covered cocoa beans that were amazing! Charm School Chocolate had some bites and bars with very kid friendly flavors like coconut milk chocolate and vanilla bean rice crisp. Kah Kow had all forms of cacao from fruit to nibs along with information about their Dominican bean to bar production.

Many of the vendors sell locally and/or online so if you missed the DC Chocolate Festival this year you can tide yourself over until next year.