Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Chocolate Is the Menu at Antelope Valley Event : Lancaster: Fairgrounds festival Saturday offers a host of delicacies, with proceeds benefiting local schools.

All the chocolate a person can eat for $10 and a chance to turn the mayor into a human sundae will be offered at the Romantic Chocolate Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

About 60 vendors will provide chocolate cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate-dipped strawberries and other tooth-decaying delicacies, said Diane James, executive director of the Lancaster Education Foundation, which is hosting the event. Contests such as eating chocolate kisses or whistling with a mouthful of chocolate chips are scheduled every 30 minutes. And participants too full--or too sick--to consume any more chocolate can purchase time to decorate Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts with whipped cream, sprinkles and other gooey goodies as he becomes the city’s first human sundae.

“I thought, ‘What the heck. All they’re going to do is squirt me with some chocolate and spray some whipped cream around me,’ ” Roberts said.

The City Council, not to be outdone, has formally declared Saturday the city’s first-ever “Day of Chocolate.” The proclamation, signed by Roberts, calls chocolate “food for the gods” and “America’s favorite flavor with more than 90% of all Americans saying they eat chocolate every day.”

Proceeds from the festival, now in its second year, are used by the education foundation to buy science, art and technical equipment for Lancaster School District students, James said. She said she came up with the idea last year because she wanted a fund-raising event unique to Southern California.

“I’m a closet chocoholic myself and I thought, ‘Gee, there must be more like me,’ ” she said.

Last year’s festival was the most successful first-year event in the city’s history--perhaps too successful, James said. An hour after it began organizers were turning people away from the hotel convention center where the event took place, and that led to several altercations.

“I had hoped for 300 people and we had 800 people in the first 20 minutes,” James said. “It became so chaotic and there were so many fistfights at the door all of our concerns were directed toward controlling the door.”

There will be room for 2,500 people at the fairgrounds Challenger Hall, where this year’s event will occur, James said. She said she hopes to raise $20,000, double the amount raised last year.

Those attending the festival will receive a card at the door that can be used once at each vending booth, James said. She said the cards are intended to keep people from hoarding the more popular items.

Some items can be brought home, though most--such as cakes and ice cream dishes--are meant to be eaten at the festival, she added. She said people should avoid gorging themselves as soon as they arrive.

“Scope out the entire event first before you start eating and visually scope out where the biggest lines are because that’s the most popular product,” she said.

A tip sheet provided by organizers suggests eating a light meal shortly before arriving, wearing loose and comfortable clothing, eating sweets at a slow rate throughout the festival and guarding take-home bags “with your life” from other chocoholics.

Also, bringing a small bag of salted, unbuttered popcorn is recommended.

“Munching a few light, salty kernels in-between rich desserts should double your capacity,” according to the tip sheet.