Staff Writer
If you didn’t stop by the Caribou Recreation and Wellness Center Feb. 13, you really missed a sweet event. The annual Chocolate Festival, sponsored by the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum, was a very busy place from the time the doors opened at 10 a.m. right through until 3 p.m.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Ellie Martin discovered that taste-testing strawberries dipped in chocolate wasn’t a bad job to do on a Saturday morning.
With tables full of most any kind of chocolate delectables one could think of, there was also pudding eating contests, face painting, chocolate moose art, coloring contests, an auction featuring more than 150 items, Shrine Clowns, magic show, recipes, s’mores and even a ‘bouncy house,’ visitors had plenty to participate in – and partake of.
“I’m so pleased,” said Nancy Chandler, president of the CCDM, “we are all so appreciative of the area support that is shown at this event.”
The event, a fund-raiser for the planned Caribou Children’s Museum resulted in $7,500 being added to the project fund. “Local people are so very generous,” added Chandler.
The festival had a new feature this year, instead of a silent auction, like at previous Chocolate Festivals, this year, auctioneer Matt Gregg, of Mapleton, kept things moving right along, as his rapid-fire voice caught everyone’s attention – some of the children in attendance couldn’t resist taking a few steps closer to observe the way the auction was held.
Chandler commented on how well everything had gone — on the amount of chocolate items that had been made and donated to help raise money for this project. As in the past members of the Caribou High School National Honor Society and Student Government filled a long stretch of tables, selling their chocolate items and volunteering with other aspects of the event.
Chandler offered her sincere thanks to everyone who supported the Chocolate Festival stating, “We were all so busy we didn’t have time to go to lunch, but not to worry, as members of the Caribou Parent/Teacher Organization, provided an unending amount of sandwiches for all of the volunteers working at the event.”
