Wisconsin's Festival of Chocolate kicks off this weekend at the Lettie W. Jensen Community Center in Amherst. This festival includes both chocolate -- tastings, cooking classes, and more -- and fitness. So you can listen to a lecture on the health benefits of chocolate, join a Pilates class, and then go learn how to make molded chocolates for Christmas gifts. A balanced approach.
Next weekend, Delaware hosts their Chocolate Festival at Dover Downs, with a Christmas theme featuring Santa claus and gingerbread, as well as an ice carving contest. The Syracuse Wine and Chocolate Festival is also slated for the weekend following Thanksgiving, as is Jackson Village's horse-drawn sleigh chocolate tour in New Hampshire.
St. Lucia's Chocolate Festival on the first weekend in December is the only one offering a tour of a cacao plantation.
December 12th is the Rochester Wine and Chocolate Festival. Both Rochester and Syracuse give half-price tickets to designated drivers who are ready to skip the wine and just enjoy the chocolate.
If none of these festivals is in your neighborhood, don't despair. There's pretty well always a chocolate festival coming up somewhere.
