Bigger fest compels chocoholics to eat more

A family with children walked out to their car Saturday evening. \n"We ate all the chocolate in the world, chocolate in the world, chocolate in the world..." they sang as their parents led them across the parking lot and away from the eighth annual Chocolate Fest. \nWith two floors of chocolate, including cookies, cakes, candy, brownies, beer, tortes, truffles, trifles, pie and more, one might understand how children, or even adults, might feel as though they had tasted "all the chocolate in the world," or at least as much as they wanted. \n"It's great; it's amazing," Susan Rinne said, executive director of the event. "It gets bigger and bigger every year."\nShe estimated at least 2,000 people filed in to the Bloomington Convention Center from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday. up from 1,600 attendees last year. This year the event expanded to another floor, and Rinne said if the event keeps growing she doesn't know where they will have it.\n"Assembly Hall?" she said, joking while she looked at the lines people trying to get through the door. \nHowever, the event did not go entirely as planned. Early in the event, the fire alarm accidentally went off three times. People to moved toward the exits, children began to cry and after the third alarm fire trucks arrived.\nAs other people exited the line, Donna McCullough stayed.\n"I thought, 'Well everybody else's getting out of line,'" she said, "and lines were crowded."\nA voice on the loudspeaker assured attendees the alarms were an accident. \n"The sponsor of today's fire drill," the man announced after the third alarm, "was Monroe County Convention Center ... Please enjoy yourself; thank you very, very much for your patience." \nAfter the mistake was announced, Mitten Trio, an instrumental band, played "It's Now or Never," the people returned to the lines and the chocolate tasting continued. \nChocolate was not the only attraction of the festival this year. Music was provided on both floors, with musicians Ric Heeter, Rich Pierce and Rachel Caswell on the first floor and Mitten Trio on the second. The second floor also featured a silent auction with many items related to Valentine's Day, like a two-hour limousine ride and dinner package, as well as collector's items, like a photograph signed by singer Ray Charles.\nChocolate Fest took about a year to plan this time, Rinne said, and a committee will begin planning for next year in March.\nShe said they've already chosen the date, and they're hoping to spread more chocolate events throughout the week. The proceeds go to Options for Better Living at 214 S. College Ave., an organization that provides services to people with disabilities.\nThe home-baked goods at Chocolate Fest come from a dessert contest split into nine categories, including "restaurants" and "children under 12," as well as the categories split up by type of dessert, such as "cookies," "cakes" or "brownies." The Indiana Memorial Union won first place in the restaurant category for its "Chocolate Madness" and third place for "Deb's Torte." \nJulie Teague, a staff member in IU's student enrollment services, and Andrew Grinstead won first place for their Choc-aloha cookies, which were chocolate cookies they decorated with cocktail umbrellas and a flower lei. \nBut the competition wasn't just between the contestants.\nTim Haas, a vendor of Dagoba Chocolate Company, offered samples of Xocolatl chile pepper chocolate to tasters out of wooden bowls on a table decorated with a drum. \n"I believe this is the best chocolate in the world," Haas said.\nChocolate was provided by 13 chocolate vendors, Oliver Winery provided wine and Upland Brewery provided Chocolate Stout beer.\n"We get out for Monroe County community events," said Nick Kapke, a bartender for Upland, 350 W. 11th St. He stayed busy asking people for identification and serving chocolate beer.\nPam Blanco bid on a "learning treasures" package for her three kids as well as a party at Lazerlite, 4505 E. Third St.\n"We're having my son's birthday at Lazerlite, so if we could save on it, that would be good," she said.\nAfter the event, IU student Anne-Jose Villeneuve and her friends Gale Davy and Claire Renaud gathered their coats and prepared to leave. Villeneuve described the event in two words. \n"Sugar coma," she said.\nDavy said she was visiting her friends from out of town and they had decided to come as a group.\n"(We came to Chocolate Fest because) it had the word 'chocolate' in it," Davy said. \n"We're chocolate addicts," Renaud said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Janice Neaveill at jneaveil@indiana.edu.