May 11-12, 2018
Denver Mart
I-25 at 58th Ave (exit east) just north of I-70!
​Friday and Saturday of Mother’s Day Weekend!
Carpeted indoor fair! 
Online Ticket sales have ended.
​Admission: $5
Kids under 5: FREE
Purchase Taste Tickets for Samples: $10/dozen
Each vendor decides on their own sample sizes. Taste Tickets allow us to pay the vendors for their generous sampling. 🙂
---- FREE PARKING BOTH DAYS! ----

Don't miss the one that started it all! This is our FLAGSHIP EVENT - a 2-day chocolate paradise!

We get great media attention, regionally and nationally!
Sample and buy the finest chocolates in Colorado!
Tastings * samples * speakers * cooking demos * wine-tastings * fun contests * food & drink * Mother’s Day gifts * VIPs * Chocolatier Championships * gifts * games * kids’ activities * fun for all!
​
Show Hours: Friday May 11th, 4-9 pm and
Saturday May 12th, 10 am – 5 pm

This video was shot by ZeroSun Pictures at a past Colorado Chocolate Festival!
​
30,000 Sq Ft of Chocolate Heaven
Over 80 Vendors from across the U.S.!

​Chocolate Candy, Cakes, Cookies, Truffles, Fudge, Brownies, Toffees, Coffees and so much more!
Everything chocolate will be here!
Not to mention our Mother’s Day Gift Market with jewelry, clothes, imports, crafts, the works!

​Admission: $5
Kids under 5: FREE
Purchase Taste Tickets for Samples: $10/dozen
Each vendor decides on their own sample sizes. Taste Tickets allow us to pay the vendors for their generous sampling. 🙂
Parking: FREE both days!
TICKET UPGRADE OPTIONS!

VIP Ticket: $50
The ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE at the Colorado Chocolate Festival – and the ULTIMATE MOTHER’S DAY GIFT!
  • One  VIP Admission bracelet
  • 12 regular Taste Tickets good at any booth
  • 12 VIP Indulgence Tickets – good at any of our hand-selected VIP program booths! Exclusive chocolates!
  • ​VIP Portal at all VIP booths so you can skip the general attendee lines at those booths. 
  • Custom Box to hold your 12 VIP Chocolates, so you can eat them later if you want.
  • Early Admission!  Get in 15 minutes before the doors open both days, to get a jump on the crowd.
  • No admission line when you purchase online by April 30!  We'll mail you everything you need to breeze on in past the entry lines!
  • Reserved seating on the front rows at all stage events throughout the Festival.

CHOCOLATE JUDGE Ticket: $35 (sold out)
Now YOU can be a Chocolate Judge at the Colorado Chocolate Festival!  Arrive at 11:00 am Saturday and plan to stay until at least 12:30 to judge - or 2:30 pm to see the awards given out!  ONLY 12 CHOCOLATE JUDGING TICKETS WILL BE SOLD!  Sample and judge chocolate from several categories of your choosing - including truffles, fudge, toffee and more! MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD. YOU MAY NOT HAVE ANY ENTRIES IN THE CONTEST, AND NONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS OR BEST FRIENDS CAN HAVE ENTRIES EITHER.  :)  Does not include admission. Admission ticket must be bought separately. 

EVENTS

FRIDAY
4:00 PM               OPEN
5:00 PM               Chocolate Happy Hour Pairing! Taste chocolates with different wine and beer! (Requires Taste Tickets)
6:00 PM               Name That Chocolate!  Can you identify chocolates while tasting them blindfolded??? Enter to win a GOLDEN TICKET worth $10 at any booth!
7:00 PM               Lounge Invaders -- Live music on stage
8:00 PM               Lounge Invaders -- Live music on stage
9:00 PM               CLOSE


SATURDAY
10:00 AM             OPEN
11:00 AM             Mother’s Day Cake Cutting! Visit the Chocolate Shop booth for delicious chocolate Mother’s Day cake! FREE to all mom’s! (Requires Taste Tickets for the rest of you!)
12:00 PM             Chocolate Pudding Eating Contest! Enter to win a GOLDEN TICKET worth $10 at any booth! Rounds for kids and adults!
1:00 PM               Chocolate Dipped Whaaat? Denver’s wackiest chef, Andrew Novick, is at it again! What will we dare you to try this year? Come find out!  (Taste Tickets required to sample.)
2:00 PM               Chocolatier Championships w/Chris Parente! Who will win our coveted awards for Best Tuffle, Best Fudge, Best Toffee, Best Chocolate Design and Best Open Class? Find out, when we hand out the award certificates and cash prizes!
3:00 PM               The Mom Game! This is a new one – and FUN! Moms answer fun, simple questions about themselves backstage then join their kid onstage and see how many right answers they can get.  Each right answer gets a chocolate treat! Winning team wins 2 Golden Tickets!
5:00 PM               CLOSE
Thank You to our Main Stage sponsor for 2018: 

Want to Sell?

Picture
This show sells out, so sign up early! We have room for 85 vendors, with a limit of 30 non-chocolate/non-food-or-drink gift booths. Don't wait - sign up today!

Vendor Booth Info:
- Booths are 8 x 12 with four 6-ft tables in a fat u-shape - or 8 x 24 ( double booth, with 8 tables ).
- Each booth includes 2 chairs. 
- Vendors must supply their own table coverings, and we ask that all table coverings please extend to the floor. 
- Set-up is Friday 12 noon - 3:45 pm. 
- Tear down is Saturday 5 - 10pm. NO EARLY PACKING.

TASTE TICKETS – WE PAY YOU FOR SAMPLING!:
​Vendors love the Taste Ticket model for our chocolate festivals! Customers give you a ticket for each sample. YOU get to decide on your own sample sizes and amounts, based on your unique products. At the end of the show, bring your Taste Tickets to Registration for cash. We weigh them with our Ticket Scale and pay $1 for every 3 tickets. 🙂

Health Dept. Requirements for Vendors Preparing Food or Drink Onsite: 
If you are selling and sampling simple pre-made, pre-packaged foods, you don't need to worry about this one, but if you plan to prepare or cook food onsite, you need to be sure you have the right permits.  If you have questions, please contact Gilbert Cazier, REHS, Environmental Health Specialist
at (303) 439-5921.
Our 2018 Vendors: 

CHOCOLATE, FOOD & SWEETS SAMPLERS & VENDORS
A Spice Above Colorado
barkTHINS Chocolate
BGV Chocolate Fountain
Chocolate Shop, The
Chocolate Therapist, The
Choctoberfest
Costco Wholesale
Cream City Mkt - Wisconsin Cheese Curds
Cultura Craft Chocolate
DAR CHOCOLATE
dippity duo dips
DoTerra
Elixir Boutique Chocolates
Fudge Ladies
Goufrais German Cool Treat
Healthy Chocolate
Hello Fresh
Hot Gringas
House of Stewart Confections
iIndulge
International Gift and Chocolate
Koglers Bakery
Marrom Bombom Brazilian Delicacies
Miss Kelly’s Candies
MouCo Cheese Company
Passanante’s Home Food Svc.
Petit Pot
Queen Bee Gardens
Real Teas by Cardamom & Curry
Red Wagon Organic Chocolates
Roberta’s Chocolates
Robin Chocolates
Rocky Mountain Lemonshakers
Scratch Sweets
Serenity CBD LLC
Simply Fudge/Spice Exchange
Sogno Toscano Olive Oil Boutique
Sweet & Sour
Sweet Cooie’s
Sweet Fabula
Sweet Solutions
Tahoe Kitchen Company
Taspen’s Organics
Tastefully Simple
Theresa’s Toffee
Truffles in Paradise
Truffnies
Whitewater Kettle Corn Inc.

ACTIVITY & GIFT BOOTHS
All About Faeries - Free Face Painting
American Rose Bags
Color Me Amber - Balloon Twisting, Glitter Tattoos
Craft Station - Mother’s Day Cards
Infunity Bounce Houses
Bath Fitter
Bluegreen Vacations
Chalk Couture
Champion of Denver
Color Street by Lynne
Creative Motivation Cheese Graters
Creative Motivation Massage Pillows
Cutco Cutlery
Designs By Denise
Discover Health and Wellness
Excel Screen Printing USA Inc.
FRE SOAP
Global Travel
Golden Girls Design
Hearten Creations
Life Springs Family Chiropractic
Lifetime Cookware
Lipsense
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Renewal by Andersen
Simply Designs by Carol
Song Sense Jewelry
Sonya Shannon Fine Art
Stargate Enterprises
Sunrun
Wari Designs
Welk Resorts
Chocolatier Championships!  How to Enter!
5 Categories
Best Fudge  -  Best Toffee  -  Best Chocolate Design
Best Open Class (bars, tiles and anything else!)
and the Truffle Trifecta with a $200 Grand Prize
  • This contest is open to all culinary professionals. You may enter as many of the Chocolatier Championship contests as you wish, with as many entries per category as you wish.  Entries must be the original creation of the entrant on the entry form.
  • Entries must emphasize chocolate, in ingredients and appearance. White chocolate may be used. The Colorado Chocolate Festival reserves the right to refuse any entry that is deemed inappropriate.
  • Entry fee is $10 per entry.
  • Competition entry fees should be received by the Wednesday before Mother’s Day. However, we will accept a limited number of entries onsite – Saturday between 10 am – 12 noon. You may register and pay online (Click above on our Register to Sell button and select "no booth" and scroll down to the Competition Entries.) 
  •  Prizes for the Truffle Trifecta are as follows: Grand Champion - $200 and certificate; Best Traditional Filling - $100 and certificate; Best Non-Traditional Filling – $100 and certificate. The first place prize in each non-truffle category is $100 and a certificate.
  •  Entries must be delivered on-site and checked in between 10 am – 12 noon on Saturday. Entries will be stored in a secure area.
  •  Entries should consist of 6 servings. A serving would be enough for a judge to have at least 3 bites or swallows. Best chocolate Design will be judged on visuals, so individual servings are not required – Just one entry is fine.
  •  Judging will be done by a panel of 12 pre-screened attendee judges. and awards will be presented Saturday on our Main Stage at 2pm. Entries (except as noted) will be judged on flavor, texture, originality, appearance and skillful use of chocolate.
  • Entrants are asked to be present - or to have a representative present - during the awards presentation from 2:00 - 2:30 pm. 
LODGING

WHY GO HOME?? Stay Overnight!
It’s all about INDULGENCE, right?
Party on Friday, crash at the hotel, and go back for more on Saturday!
The Comfort Inn Central, located at the Merchandise Mart, where the Festival happens, is a great place to stay!
Call 303-297-1717 or visit their website at www.comfortinn-central.com.