Sweet Success : Chocoholics Indulge to Aid Lancaster Schools

More than 2,000 chocoholics converged on the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds Saturday, checked their calorie counters at the door and dived into an array of cakes, cookies and other confections made with their favorite treat.

Chocolate dripped over strawberries and pretzels. It lured festival-goers to ice-cream-eating contests and down aisles with names like Praline Path. And to climax the event, chocolate syrup drenched Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts’ business suit as he was turned into a human sundae complete with whipped cream, nuts and bananas.

Oh, yes--a mayor-schino cherry rested on top of his head.

It was all in the name of fun and fund-raising, and leaders of the Lancaster Education Foundation hoped to clear as much as $20,000 by the end of the four-hour Romantic Chocolate Festival.

The foundation, which buys books, equipment and other supplies for Lancaster School District students, wanted to build a fund-raiser around a food with near-universal appeal and hit upon one of America’s favorite flavors.

“Look around--everyone loves chocolate!” said Lew Stults, president of the foundation. “Do you think we’d have this many people if we had a spinach festival?”

The foundation underestimated chocolate’s appeal during its first festival last year, when it planned for 300 or 400 people in a hotel ballroom. Instead, more than 1,000 chocolate lovers arrived, and more than a few scuffles occurred as they competed for a share of the sweets.

This year’s event, moved to the much larger Challenger Memorial Hall at the fairgrounds, drew more than 1,000 visitors in the first half-hour, and the attendance had more than doubled by midafternoon.

The $10 admission charge entitled each visitor to stop by tables staffed by about 60 chocolate vendors, local businesses and professionals--each offering a free confection. Vendors checked off a card carried by each visitor, so that no one could monopolize the most popular cakes and chocolate bars.

Fudgsicles were a favorite, as were solid-chocolate radios and a seven-layer ice-cream cake topped with caramel.

As chocolate addicts lined up along aisles dubbed Milky Way and Bon Bon Boulevard, other visitors competed in lighthearted contests. To win one such event, Angela Carswell, 11, of Palmdale, devoured a bowl of ice cream faster than any other youngster.

“I sometimes get a headache when I eat that fast, but I wanted to win,” she said. “It’s a fun day, and I don’t care about anything else except chocolate today.”

Alison Workman of Edwards Air Force Base won a Most Romantic Couple prize by telling a local radio station how her husband, Jeff, set up a trail of poems and flowers two years ago that ended in a marriage proposal.

The Edwards resident also said she did not plan to hold her appetite in check while visiting the festival’s chocolate displays.

“She cares about gaining weight from everything except chocolate,” Jeff Workman laughed. “She eats a ton of it.”

Bonnie Thordahlc, a school district employee who was carrying treats to her family, said the benefit to students outweighed any dietary concerns.

“No one worries about cholesterol or fat grams or calories today,” she said. “We’re here to enjoy ourselves.”

But a few vendors did raise some health concerns.

Beside the chocolate candies handed out by one chiropractor was a sign that read: “Don’t let the stress of everyday life take such a toll that the only cure is a Toll House cookie. Take the next step and visit your chiropractor for relief without the added calories.”

Meanwhile, a Lancaster health food store handed out samples of a cake made of caffeine-free, low-fat carob, calling it “everything chocolate is not.”

But Diane Williams, who sampled the treat, was not impressed.

“It’s not as good,” she said. “It’s a very different taste.”

Mayor Roberts, who raised extra money by selling opportunities to turn him into a sundae, said he would indulge his own sweet tooth by dipping into the toppings dripping from his suit.

“I’m going to sample some of it,” he said, “on my way to the shower.”