White Hall Friends of the Library Chocolate Fest Feb. 12
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By Carmen Ensinger
Valentine’s Day will be upon us soon and rather than succumbing to the crass commercialism of the holiday of love and spending a fortune on flowers and a box of store-bought candy, make plans to drop in on the White Hall Friends of the Library Chocolate Fest on Sunday, Feb. 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in White Hall and pick up a large plate full of homemade chocolate goodies for the ones you love.
After a hiatus of a couple of years due to COVID-19, last year the Friends of the Library brought the popular event back and it proved to be more popular than ever.
“Last year we made up 100 plates of chocolate and we ended up selling every single one of them,” Friends of the Library Chairman Mary Jane Steelman said. “I think we had a couple of plates leftover and the next day someone came in and bought them.”
At $10 a plate, the event turned into a cool little $1,000 profit for the Friends of the Library, which they used to put towards the new carpeting which was installed this past summer.
“This year, we plan on using the money we raise to put towards some new technology for the library,” Steelman said. “The four computers for our patrons are getting pretty old. They have to be at least eight years old and could really use updating.”
Since all of the items are donated, everything they make is pure profit.
“We are looking for donations of chocolate-related items to put on the plates,” Steelman said. “It can be anything – either regular or white chocolate. Items such as fudge, cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, pretzels, raisins or anything as long as it has some kind of chocolate in it.”
Steelman said the day of the event, the church will be open at noon for those who have made items to drop them off for the volunteers to start making up the plates.
“Or, if someone would like to make them up prior to that and can’t make it to the church on the day of the event, they can always drop them off at my house,” Steelman said. “I had several people do that last year.”
While those wishing to purchase plates of chocolate won’t have the option to choose exactly what they want, they will have the option to choose from a variety of different plates which are already made up.
“Everything went so smoothly last year by having the plates already made up that we decided to do it that way again this year,” Steelman said. “We used to have the option where you could get a plate and eat it here, but people really didn’t care for that option too well so we just went with this option since it seemed to go over so well last year.”
Steelman advises everyone to come early for the best variety.
“We put a variety in all the plates, but if you want the best variety, be sure and come early,” she said. “The best always goes first.”
Anyone who would like to drop their desserts off at Steelman’s house can call her at 217-371-1715 to arrange a time.
