Hundreds of chocolate lovers will descend upon downtown Bel Air on Saturday.
Some folks will dip strawberries, pretzels or marshmallows in warm, flowing, rich, milk chocolate, while others will decorate chocolate bunnies or an Easter egg.
"It's a day that people can go and taste a lot of different chocolates and have fun," said Elizabeth Cook, executive director of the Bel Air Downtown Alliance.
This year, the seventh annual Chocolate Festival at the Bel Air Armory will include chocolate dipping, chocolate bunny and egg decorating, a taster's choice competition and a dozen chocolate vendors, including a new chocolatier in the county. There will be a children's corner with chocolate activities for kids and a display of chocolate-themed books.
The event kicks off with the first Chocolate Affaire, a Friday night event geared toward adults, which will include chocolate cocktails such as martinis and vodkas, as well as desserts, a catered dinner, jazz and a silent auction.
Founded by the downtown alliance, a group charged with revitalizing Bel Air, the festival was started as a unique way to raise money, Cook said.
Each vendor, many of whom have participated each year since the festival began, brings chocolate wares to the event. This year, some of the offerings include Granny's Hot Fudge Sauce, chocolate coffee drinks, hot chocolate, brownies, eclairs, cheesecake, homemade ice cream and a variety of scrumptious chocolates.
Bomboy's, a 30-year-old family-owned chocolate shop in Havre De Grace, is bringing a chocolate fountain to give guests a shot at making their own creations, said Charlie Bomboy, an owner. The fountain is used for fondue, where guests dip strawberries, pineapples, pretzels or marshmallows into tiers of cascading chocolate.
Bomboy's will also offer samples of some customer favorites, such as the shop's vanilla buttercream, and the chocolate and chocolate nut fudges.
The candy shop has participated in the festival since it began because the event gives it good exposure in the county, Bomboy said.
"There are not many events out there for chocolate makers," he said. "And we want to be involved in the community."
Jim Heyl, the owner of Moore's Candies, founded in Baltimore in 1919, has also been participating in the event since it started. He does it because it's fun for the whole family, he said.
This year, Heyl plans to offer chocolate-covered blueberries, strawberries, bananas and pineapple, as well as mini-pretzels covered with caramel and coated with chocolate, he said.
He said he also plans to give away hollow bunnies and eggs to five people who will go on stage and decorate them. Each person can decorate two bunnies or one egg. They will have several sweet decorating options, such as nonpareils and sugar icing flowers, he said.
"I always try to offer something that everyone will enjoy," he said. "When we call the names of the winners to come on stage, sometimes the whole family comes up. That's what I enjoy the most ... seeing the whole family having such a great time."
Another participant is Wockenfuss Homemade Candies. The Baltimore company was founded by Herman Charles Wockenfuss in 1915. The Harford County shop opened at the end of January, but the company has seven other stores throughout the Baltimore area and Ocean City.
Paul Wockenfuss, the company president, said he attended the chocolate festival a couple of years ago. He said he wanted to participate this year to get his name out in the local communities.
Wockenfuss plans to offer nonpareils, wafers covered with small white balls of sugar and an almond butter crunch, which is butter toffee dipped in chocolate and rolled in roasted almonds, he said.
"The nonpareils are a customer favorite of ours," he said.
Wockenfuss said he isn't worried about the taster's choice competition.
"I think people worry about competition more than necessary," he said. "Although the nonpareils might not be the fanciest chocolates there, I'm bringing what my customers like the best. I don't want to make my chocolates like anyone else."
He said he has an idea about the things the other chocolate vendors might do.
"I know what other vendors have done in the past," he said. "I think it's better to have a mixture. So I stayed away from a fountain. How many chocolate-covered strawberries can you eat in one day?"
However, if the judges weren't the guests tasting the chocolates, he might have made a different choice, he said.
"If you have professional pastry chefs judging a competition, you want to enter something that is made with dark chocolate," he said. "Chefs use dark or European chocolates. But since the customers are judging, I'm going with my first choice."
Other vendors include Stephanie's Sweets, Buy the Cup, Shamrock Coffee, DeLoache, Treasures by the Bay, Rockfield Manor, Sugar Shack Bakeshop and Broom's Bloom.
The Chocolate Affaire will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday at the Bel Air Armory, 37 N. Main St., Bel Air. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased by calling 410-638-1023. Advance ticket purchases are recommended.
The Chocolate Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the armory. Tickets are $5 per person and include five tickets to sample chocolate confections. and desserts.