By: Samantha Ranck
February 9, 2008 from 10:00am to 4:00pm the second annual Chocolate Festival was held at Belleville Mennonite School. The aroma of chocolate filled the air in Belleville Mennonite’s gym. Table after table was filled with chocolate goodies. “It was like a chocolate wonderland,” said Kira Stitt, sophomore of Belleville. The Chocolate Festival is a fundraiser for Belleville Mennonite.
Some of the brief history of chocolate is that chocolate was discovered about 2,600 years ago by the by the Mayans. Montezuma, a Mayan emperor, demanded payment of taxes in cocoa beans because he loved chocolate. Chocolate was brought from Central America over to Europe and the diversity of chocolate began. Thanks to all the different contributions made to chocolate in the past we now have different verities of chocolate and can have events like the Chocolate Festival.
At the Chocolate Festival people could purchase chocolate at the marked price and they could even pay to dip items into the chocolate fountain that was set up at one of the tables. Recipes, cakes, ice cream, antiques and even hand-made jewelry was also available for purchase.The jewelry sold at the Chocolate Festival was hand crafted from strips of colored paper rolled up to make beads. The organization, Beadforlife, provides this jewelry and sends the money to the women who make the beads in Uganda. This money will help women and children in Uganda who do not have enough money to support their own families. Many of these families are not only caring for their own children but also AIDS orphans as well. Beadforlife allows the women of these families to create a living by making the beads and crafting jewelry with them. Lentha Barron ran the Beadforlife display at the Chocolate Festival. In all $484 was raised for Beadforlife.
“By the end of the day we were all on a chocolate high.” said Stitt.The leftovers from the Chocolate Festival went to the Belleville Meals on wheels and also to the homeless shelter in Lewistown.
To find out more about Beadforlife go to www.BeadforLife.org Information of the history of chocolate came from CNN.com