CARIBOU, Maine — Teague Park Elementary School’s cafeteria quickly crowded as adults and children sampled a plethora of chocolate treats during the March 26, 2016 Chocolate Festival.
Proceeds from the festival will go to the Relay for Life, an organization dedicated to raising money for the American Cancer Society to help find effective treatments and ultimately a cure for the disease.
Event organizer Karin Howe says that they had raised over $3,000 during prior festivals.
“They used to do have the Chocolate Festival in the children’s museum during Valentine’s Day,” said Howe, “so Cuppy Johndro had the idea to bring it back for relay, but it since was too much for one team, so we got all these teams together.”
“We thought making it the day before Easter would be great draw for the kids,” said Howe. “The way it works is, instead of buying the chocolate with cash, you can buy tickets for a dollar, and then give those to a table to get chocolate.” Johndro entertained young guests at the event by dressing as the Easter bunny.
Debra Bishop, of the McCain Foods Search for a Cure team, has been participating in the festival for two years, and donated to the first event. Her table featured a wide variety of sweets, including chocolate covered rice crispy treats, whoopie pies, two varieties of brownies, chocolate chip cookies with Reese’s, and pumpkin cookies.
“It’s going well so far,” said Bishop. “It changes year to year, so you never know what will sell and what won’t. It’s a good cause, and it’s a pretty fun time too.”
The Crafting for a Cure Team also prepared a wide variety of sweets, including whoopie pies, peanut butter squares, cupcakes, and a diverse assortment of cookies.
“We usually start a week and a half to two weeks ahead of time with chocolates and then go right down to baking,” said team member Brandy Alley, “It is our first year participating in the chocolate festival and our third year as a team for the relay. I just want to see a really good turnout and raise a lot of money for the relay.”
Bruce Waycott and Winona Christnot-Peters of Team Half and Half offered Maine potato candy along with maple bacon candy. According to Christnot-Peters, the maple bacon is their team’s most popular treat.
“It has maple flavoring and real bacon inside,” said Christnot-Peters, “When people hear bacon, they usually want to try it.”
Waycott says that their team spends about two weeks preparing everything for their table.
“We just hope it’s a good turnout this year,” said Waycott.
“The better the turnout, the more we can help out Relay for Life,” added Christnot-Peters.
Tim Hortons donated coffee for the event, giving adults a chance to sit at cafeteria tables and socialize while children could visit the Easter bunny or play games in the gym.
