Inaugural Chocolate Walk sure to be sweet success
What kind of chocolate fun will the participants of the inaugural Holmes County Chocolate Walk whip up? The only way to find out is to buy one of the 300 tickets for the Oct. 18-20 tour, which was created as a fundraiser for the Food Pantry at Millersburg Church of God.
In “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” young Augustus Gloop couldn’t wait to dive into a river of chocolate. While he ended up paying a steep price to satiate his chocolate cravings when he went head over heels into the chocolate river, patrons of an upcoming chocolate event will not have to worry about that.
It’s time for the community to prepare for the 2018 version of “Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” but this time 300 tickets will be sold for the event.
The inaugural Holmes County Chocolate Walk will take place Oct. 18-20, and the tickets are expected to go fast.
The event will take place in Millersburg, Berlin and Walnut Creek as area businesses bring everything from wrapped chocolate treats, to chocolate fountains, to some homemade specialties like homemade buckeyes.
The walk is created as a fundraiser for the Food Pantry at Millersburg Church of God. According to food pantry board member Evelyn Wooten, the chocolate walk came out of a need to have a fundraising event to replace several other past fundraising events that required many people to operate.
“Our church is very small and so is our volunteer base for the food pantry,” Wooten said. “I researched the chocolate walk event and actually called and talked with two other chairmen with events in other states to learn what to do and more importantly what not to do.”
A regular chocolate walk usually involves eight to 10 participating stores that give out a piece of chocolate to those who purchase a ticket. Wooten said the Holmes County Chocolate Walk is a little more involved, boasting more than 30 participating stores, so many they had to extend the event over a three-day period.
“It’s a chocolate walk on steroids,” Wooten said with a laugh.
In addition to raising funds for the food pantry, it also serves the community in another way.
“It is all about the chocolate, but in addition it is designed to promote the businesses participating on a larger scale by giving chocolate walkers incentive to make purchases and/or post pictures of the businesses on social media,” Wooten said.
In doing so, patrons will have an opportunity to win a drawing for a caramel kiss chocolate-colored diamond necklace valued at more than $900. The necklace was purchased from The Jewelry Store in Millersburg.
“It is a stunning piece of jewelry that goes right along with our chocolate theme,” Wooten said of the necklace.
Those who purchase a ticket for the chocolate walk for $20 will be able to get a chocolate treat from each participating business and also earn entries into the diamond necklace drawing. Patrons will exchange their ticket for a chocolate passport with maps and a goody bag at the registration center, which will be located at German Village Center in Berlin.
The chocolate passports will have all the businesses listed with each having three squares for stamps. As patrons visit each store, they will receive a stamp on their passport when they get their chocolate treat. Another stamp will be given if they make a purchase in the store with a third stamp given when they take a picture in the store and post it to a social media site. Each stamp on their passport will give them an entry into the drawing. When the chocolate walk patrons have visited all the stores or as many as they want to visit, they simply leave their passport with the last store they visit.
“We will pick up all the passports on Monday, Oct. 22 and make entry tickets for each sticker on all the passports,” Wooten said. “We will then live-stream the process and the drawing on our Facebook page at 1 p.m.”
Wooten said she hopes through this event that all of the local people who get involved will come to realize the number of shopping opportunities local stores present for gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or “just because” types of gifts.
“I learned so much about what all is available in Holmes County by visiting all the stores,” Wooten said. “I, like so many others, thought the stores were just for tourists, but that is not the case. No one needs to leave the county for birthday or Christmas shopping or decorating their home. It is just amazing what is available in our hometowns. We just need to take the time and visit the stores.”
There also is still time for area businesses to get on board to be a part of the chocolate walk.
Businesses may sign up to be in the Holmes County Chocolate Walk until Oct. 9. There is no cost for the businesses to sign up, although they do need to sign a contract and agree to pass out up to 300 chocolate treats during the event. Some of the chocolate treats already committed include homemade buckeyes from The Jenny Wren in Millersburg, a family-recipe brownie at Sols in Berlin, a chocolate fountain at Holmes Sew & Vac in Berlin, chocolate martinis at Hotel Millersburg, chocolate whoopee pies at Boyd & Wurthmann Restaurant, Coblentz chocolates at Coblentz Chocolates in Walnut Creek and dozens more.
Wooten said the plan is to conduct another chocolate walk in the spring, but for now they want to see how this initial foray goes.
“We would love for this to be an annual event because it is exciting and it is a chance for people to get out and connect with many area businesses,” Wooten said.
All of the funds raised from the walk will go toward operating expenses for the Food Pantry at Millersburg Church of God. Commercial and Savings Bank has provided a donation to help cover expenses for the event.