This post documents my experience on February 1, 2014.
I started my festival year at Medina High School…
…where festival goers went inside to celebrate…
…the For the Love of Chocolate Festival.
Put on by the Medina County Red Cross and the J.M. Smucker Company…
…and assisted with the help of young cadets and volunteers…
…the festival handed out take-home containers (with $10 admission)…
…for festival goers to collect up to 8 chocolate samples…
…from various booths that included animal non-profit groups (SOS)…
…grocery stores (Buehler’s)…
…restaurants (Eat’n Park)…
…politicians (Steve Hambley)…
…local businesses (Lodi Station Outlet)…
…festival gift vendors…
…and even some professional chocolatiers (Fears’ Confections).
With 40 participating booths offering various chocolate treasures…
…including diabetic chocolates…
…chocolate hammers…
…and hot fudge sundaes (to name a few)…
…it was a bit jarring at times to work around the crowd as you decided on your samples.
That’s why I paid attention to the longer lines, which usually meant better stuff!
This particularly long line, for instance…
…led to some highly coveted chocolate covered strawberries.
But there was more than just chocolate!
A magician did tricks for passing festival goers…
…and a kids’ section called Candy Land…
…offered such games as Oreo stacking…
…bean bag tossing…
…and bowling.
There was even a (non-chocolate) food station…
…made up of pizza and hot dogs.
But for those who do get caught up and frazzled by the chocolate sample collecting…
…and just don’t know what to get…
…take a look at my own collection and read on…
Only three of the things I collected were actually good.
The majority of items went into the trash after a bite due to flavor, ingredients or just not being worth the calories.
Of course, that’s not to say that there won’t be better items next year – or maybe your taste is different from mine.
Perhaps I’m a chocolate snob!
My point is simply not to go crazy fretting about it.
Take advantage of the bake sale…
…where there was also plenty to choose from (without the crowds)…
…and be sure to look at all the booths…
…because some vendors gave chocolate stuff for free…
…and I’m greatly appreciative of that!