LEWISBURG — Chocolate lovers will not want to miss out on an upcoming Valley event. The 19th annual Chocolate Festival to benefit the Donald L. Heiter Community Center will take place on Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4.
Festival Chair Melissa Apanel talks about what’s in store for the two day event, “For $10, people can get tickets to visit over fifteen downtown businesses and sample different types of chocolate. That’s Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. We then have the gala on the evening of the fourth. Our doors open at 5:30 and the event starts at 6:00. There’s VIP tickets for that. That gets them a special dinner with alcohol pairings and more chocolate then they will ever want to consume.”
The gala ball will be held Saturday evening at the Lewisburg Hotel. The evening will include an amateur chocolate competition, professional chocolate displays, and both a live and silent auction. Apanel says there are some fantastic auction items up for grabs, “We have a package for Pirates tickets in Pittsburgh, we got a package for Billy Joel tickets in Philadelphia, there’s a hot air balloon trip up in Vermont, a sailing trip down in the Chesapeake, a Penn State tailgating package, and more. So, there’s a lot of little trips that people can do and go experience.”
Andrea Tufo, executive director at the center says the money raised at the event will help provide affordable after school and summer programs, “There’s all different ways anyone can contribute and you’re contributing to our programs. You’re contributing to helping those scholarship funds, contributing towards offsetting the fees because our fees are low so that everyone can afford them. So, you’re helping kids go on summer camp field trips, you’re helping our after school program be able to provide homework help to every single child that walks in the door.”
The Chocolate Ball will take place Saturday, February 4 at the Lewisburg Hotel. Both general admission and VIP tickets are being sold. For ticket information and a full schedule of the 19th annual Chocolate Festival, visit www.donaldheiter.org. Grace Mahon, Melissa Apanel, and Andrea Tufo were recent guests on WKOK Sunrise. You can listen to their full interview online at www.wkok.com.
