The One-of-A-Kind Hawaii Chocolate Festival Is The Sweetest Thing You’ll Ever Do
By Megan Shute|Published April 23, 2019
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
Calling all Big Island chocolate lovers! The Hawaiian Islands are well-known for our pineapple plantations and coffee farms, but that’s not all you’ll find here. Hawai is the only state in America that can easily grow cacao, and as a result, our beautiful islands are home to some of the country’s greatest chocolatiers. To celebrate the fantastic cacao grown — and chocolate made — across the Hawaiian Islands, the annual Big Island Chocolate Festival might just be the sweetest event you’ll ever attend, and is fast approaching this year.
Held at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel in Waimea on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27, 2019, the Big Island Chocolate Festival celebrates our all-time favorite food with tastings, demonstrations, and plenty of fun.
The seventh annual event is presented by the Kona Cacao Association and is a fundraiser that benefits five local non-profits and Hawaii cacao farmers. In 2018, $27,000 was donated to four beneficiaries, and this year’s beneficiaries include the Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture, Kona Dance & Performing Arts, Kona Pacific Charter Schools, Waimea Country School, and Hip-AG.
The two-day festival is sure to be tons of fun, encompassing seminars, demonstrations, a student chef competition, a fancy and fun gala fundraiser, silent auction, and a professionally judged cacao bean taste off.
In addition to sweet and savory creations prepared by chefs, culinary students, confectioners, and chocolatiers, you’ll find unlimited pours of fine wines, handcrafted ales, and tequila cocktails.
It truly doesn’t get much better than this two-day chocolate festival held on Hawaii Island’s Kohala coast. If you enjoy chocolate as much as we do and live on the Big Island, try to snag a ticket and attend. We promise it’ll be the sweetest thing you ever do.
The Big Island Chocolate Festival will be held this year on April 26th and 27th, 2019 at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort located at 62-100 Kaunaʻoa Dr., Waimea, HI 96743. As of Sunday, April 21, tickets for the sweet event were still available. To learn more, or even purchase tickets, head to their website or follow them on Facebook.