2008 Chocolate
Festival Dates: April 19-20, 2008 (21st Annual Chocolate Festival) 3rd Weekend
in April
Chocolate, Pageant, Fudge Contest, Chocolate Song, Entertainment, Street
Dance, Parade, Rides, Games at
2008 - 21st Annual Chocolate Festival Getaway
2007 Chocolate Festival Schedule
By: Phyllis Helphenstine
"Miss & Mr. Chocolate
Festival" Pageant, and "Chocolate Fudge Contest" are all
part of the festivities as the 1700s community of Washington, KY, in Mason
County at the 21st Annual Chocolate Festival. Something for everyone (not
all chocolate) includes Live Entertainment both days. Pirate Ship,
Pony cart and pig train rides, games and Chocolate Candy Hunt for children.
All this and so much more make the Chocolate Festival on April 19-20 an event
for all. Always the third weekend in April, hours are from 10 am until 7
pm or later on Saturday and 10 am to 5 pm on Sunday. The Historic
Washington Shopkeepers sponsor this event. History, 9 museums, 26
permanent shops, street vendors, all in an 18th Century storybook setting of
flagstone walks, log cabins and architectural styles combine its 222 years to
create one of the most picturesque village scenes in the country. This
is a family festival with other things besides chocolate so the children don't
just fill up on chocolate, but... For the Aztecs (and about everyone I
know), Chocolate was sacred. This can't-live-without-it food shares more
than history - packed with monounsaturated (good-for-you fats) that protect you
from chronic disease and new research shows can help you lose
weight! Admission is FREE to this healthy festival. Web site: www.washingtonky.com
AWARD WINNING "Pride of Kentucky" festival welcomes spring as one of
the first events of 2008. With all types of chocolate from the dark sweet
chocolate to milk chocolate and everything in between. Chocolate offerings
are to be found almost everywhere: inside shops, street vendors, museums and all
the usual festival fare. One shop my have a variety of chocolate items
completely different from those found in the next shop. There is always
chocolate covered cream candy, (a Mason County delicacy0, and Kentucky Bourbon
Balls, along with old-fashioned fudge, fruit dipped in chocolate, chocolate
funnel cakes, and, of course, I B. Back Fudge with his many varieties of
fudge. Chocolatiers are coming from everywhere.
Te 1790 Row House Mall is having their Grand Opening with juried crafters at
this festival.
Inside the shops are a variety of chocolates for sale in Washington Hall, The Strawberry Patch, Carousel Shop, Keepsake Treasures, Phyllis' Antique Lamp Shop & David's Brass Works, and Elaine's Gallery and Framing. Hourly drawings for chocolate prizes in Phyllis' Lamp Shop. Guess the number of Chocolates in the Strawberry Patch, Chocolate recipes for customers in Elaine's Gallery & Framing. Basket of prizes from which random customers may pick. Candy Tasting in Keepsake Treasures, "Kisses" in each bag at Phyllis' & Elaine's. Check in each shop to register for door prizes. In the 1700s village shops, museums and other historic buildings you will once again get that big chocolate flavor from their various offerings that you experience each year during this festival. As you walk the flagstone sidewalks where Simon Kenton, his good friend Daniel Boone, and Albert Sidney Johnston, the famous Confederate General, all trod, you are stepping back into the 18th Century with over 222 years of history, and 45 buildings most built between 1785 and 1812. Tasting along the way, it is hard to decide your favorite chocolate treat. Chocolate Festival visitors that signed the register came from 3 towns in England, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, 101 towns in Kentucky, 60 towns in Ohio, 17 towns in Indiana, 6 in Michigan, 4 towns in each Florida and West Virginia, 3 in Tennessee, 2 in Mississippi, Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Texas. We hope to see you too this year.
"Miss &
Mr. Chocolate Festival" Pageant - Saturday, April 12th - (Deadline is April
5th). The Kentucky
Festival Pageant Association is coming to Washington again for the 21st Annual
Chocolate Festival at the Maysville Community College - in the Field Auditorium with winners
being presented at the Chocolate Festival in
Washington on Sunday, April 20th and advancing to the Kentucky Festival State Pageant in
Lexington There are 10 Age groups for girls: 0 to 11 months, 12-23 months,
2-3 years, 4 year olds, 5-6 years, 7-8 years, 9-10 years, 11-12 years, 13-15
years, 16-21, and Ms. (anyone 22 + years). Age Groups for boys are; 0 to
18 months, 19 months to 3 years, and 4-7 years. All contestants will
receive a crown, trophy and gift for participating. Everyone can enter
free with sponsorship! Pageant Organizers will be here for contestants to sign up and
an information session at the Hampton Inn 503 Market
Place Drive 606-759-0600 and Nationwide 1-800-Hampton (1-800-426-7866),
The Hampton Inn is located behind Tumbleweed just off AA
Hwy. (Route #9 - also known as AA Highway). Call 859-626-8882 E-mail kyfestivals@hotmail.com
visit www.kentuckypageants.com
for further details.
A special song, "What's Better Than Chocolate?" has been written just
for this year's festival. The "Pure Gravel Band" out of
Louisville, KY, will be on hand to play at this "Sweets in The Street
Dance" on the town square in beautiful historic Washington. The dance will
close Saturday's activities starting at 5 pm and continuing until 7 pm or later
and is FREE to the public. Best known for their ability to play a wide
variety of music, Pure Gravel will provide an unique mix of country, blues, soul
and classic rock tunes for the public dance. This band is appearing
at festivals all over KY and Indiana this year, including The Harley-Davidson KY
State Rally at the East KY Exposition Center in Pikeville, FOX TV, live radio
broadcasts from Louisville, The new song they have written just for this
festival is included on their newest recording and will be available to
festivalgoers.
Everyone is invited to participate in the PARADE on Sunday, April 20th. If
possible call 606-759-7305, Elaine Haughaboo, so she has an estimate of how many
to expect or if you want more information. Everyone is welcome. The
Mason County Royals and Cheerleaders will be Grand Marshalls with Wlywood
Developers as Co-Grand Marshalls. We have some new shops added this year
and many street vendors with Dulcimers, flutes and other musical instruments,
festival foods, crafts and antiques and, as always, all are asked to have some
form of Chocolate to sell or give away in their booth. Spaces are only $65
for each 16 foot frontage for food vendors and $45 for each 16 foot frontage
space for all others. Everyone wishing to sell their wares call Marsha
Jones 606-759-0505 E-mail: marsha_h_jones@hotmail.com
The response has been great this year with vendors coming from many
states. Home crafted items are encouraged.
The "Chocolate Fudge Contest" is open to
all. Each entry in the competition must have the recipe, contain
chocolate, or cocoa, and cannot be commercially made or prepared from a
box. Everyone is invited to submit their favorite CHOCOLATE
fudge recipe with 6 two inch pieces of their homemade fudge for the annual Chocolate
Fudge Contest. Entries should be
brought to Phyllis' Antique Lamp Shop by 1:00
p.m. Sunday. No entries will be accepted without the recipe. Every
entrant will receive a certificate for a Brownie Fix and the winner will receive
a $50.00 dinner for two - all from de Sha’s of Mayville.
Festival
goers may park at the Recreational Park in Washington and be shuttled by the
city’s trolley to the heart of Old Washington . The
trolley runs every 15 minutes. If you turn into Washington by the filling
station on Duke of York Street
then turn right on Old Main Street you will find the Recreation Park several
blocks up on the left.
Enticing people to explore
Washington's unique business district are several well known Antique, a whole
array of galleries, Gift Shops, Specialty Stores, Picture Framing, a Dollhouse Shop, a Lamp Shop with
antique lamp restoration and rewiring.
The 1790 Mall with Juried Country and Primitive Crafts, Snowmen: Every NFL Team,
some with Top Hat and Christmas Tree that Lights, Old Road Signs, Santas, Year
Round Christmas Shop, Kentucky made pottery all line Old Main
Street in Washington.
More about the FUDGE - as rivers of sweet, dark chocolate
flow throughout the village streets (much of the chocolate delicacies are found
inside the Washington shops), there may be found a variety of fudges to
please even the most discerning chocoholic, from the true connoisseur who shuns
everything but bittersweet. For the
chocolate lover who will embrace chocolate in any form to those in the middle
who love the gentleness and variety of milk chocolate.
There will be
special things going on at "The Harriett Beecher Stowe Slavery to Freedom
Museum". The "Chocolate Candy Hunts" for children on Harriet
Beecher Stowe museum lawn on Sunday at 1:00 pm is sponsored by Maysville Younger Woman's Club.
Every visitor should go first to the Visitor's Center, housed in an original 1790 log cabin, one of the 119 such cabins in Washington in 1790. Four of these cabins are included in one of the tours from the visitors' center. At the Visitors' Center one may view the video, visit with one of the tour guides in period costumes who gladly conduct tours throughout the village and its museums, and browse through many history books, many of which are for sale. The village offers a tempting destination for city dwellers seeking an afternoon or weekend's change of pace - a nice place to relax.
Washington gives pleasures to both adults and children, with over 1,000 school children taking advantage of the "Log Cabin Learning" field trip each May. Every now and then history meets today's needs to produce an ambiance so distinctive and compelling as Washington. In addition to its other tours inside the village, Washington is on the "Covered Bridge Tour" and the "Underground Railroad Tour". The Marshall Key house, ca 1807, was where Harriet Beecher Stowe, while visiting in 1833, witnessed a slave auction on the old courthouse lawn that inspired her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin. This house is now the HARRIET BEECHER STOWE SLAVERY TO FREEDOM MUSEUM.
Washington’s newest museum is the THE CARRIAGE MUSEUM with
high quality, hand crafted, horse drawn carriages, buggies and other vehicles
has added many new carriages and other items not shown on our web site: www.washingtonky.com
This museum has just been awarded the title and a framed award certificate as
one of the Best Museums for 2004!
Some of these include: Spindle-Back, Side Spring, 2-Seater and other
Runabouts, Racers, Mail Wagon, ad Doctors Buggy, a Drop Front Phaeton, a
Governess Cart, a 4-Passenger open top carriage, Farm wagon, Sleighs, a Breaking
Cart, a 4-Passenger open top wagon, and a Surry with fringe-on-the-top.
This is a must see for young and old alike. Admission to the Carriage Museum is only $1.00 and one
hundred percent of that goes to the Alzheimer’s Foundation.
Washington is nestled, 4 miles south of the banks of the Ohio River and Maysville, 50 miles northeast of Lexington, KY, 50 miles west of Portsmouth, Ohio, 90 miles west of Huntington, WV and 51 miles east of Cincinnati, Oh, (take the Wilder Exit #77 off I-275 onto Route #9 - also known as the AA Highway), then turn right at the light by Wendy's onto US 68, turn left at the second light up into Old Washington.. Washington is 1 mile south of the AA Highway on US 68. Plan your CHOCOLATE GETAWAY this weekend in Washington. You will be glad you did!