If you host a Festival of Chocolate, chocolate lovers will come out in droves. So discovered the festival's organizers in 2010, when "we were expecting maybe 3,000 to 4,000 people for the whole weekend, and we got double that number," said Jeff Stanford, public relations director at the Orlando Science Center, where the sweets-filled event took place on Saturday and Sunday. Stanford assisted festival producer and creator Aileen Mand with publicity efforts.
Expecting more than 9,000 guests throughout the weekend this year, planners expanded the event's footprint to allow for less congestion. They also extended the hours, opening at 10 a.m. each day and wrapping up at 7 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday. Last year, the event closed at 5 p.m. on both days. With more space and more time to fill, "we wanted to make sure that we had enough going on to engage the crowd," Stanford said. "We want to keep the lag time for attendees to a minimum."
On both days, simultaneous activities took place in different areas of the museum, and ranged from lighthearted to sophisticated in nature. At one point, for example, a brownie bingo game took place in one room while a wine-and-chocolate pairing class took place in another. In a large auditorium, a chef explained how to create decorative icing flowers. Throughout both days, a vendor showcase displayed treats from more than 30 local sweets purveyors—amid them Candy Clouds, Bake Me a Cake, and the Sugar Suite.
Mand also added more children's programming. "There was feedback from guests last year that that they wanted to see more activities for their kids and more hands-on activities in general, so we accommodated those requests," Stanford said. Activities geared at the wee ones included a playhouse shaped like a candy shop, where guests could strap on aprons and fill gold boxes with toy candy, and chocolate play-dough making.
