I’ll get back to blogging about my writing journey soon, but in the meantime, I’ve had several people ask about the Utah Chocolate Show, so I thought I’d oblige.

In a giant nutshell, the Utah Chocolate Show is an expo event of all things chocolate.

But that sounds boring.

The fuller version:

My older sister Melanie (or Mel, as she prefers to be called) has always enjoyed organizing events. She even coordinated my birthday parties when I was a kid. Mom was only too happy to oblige.

For many years, Mel did catering on the side, and while she was very good at the cooking and preparing end of things, what she really enjoyed was the production side. So a few years back as she and her family moved from Arizona to Utah, she debated what to do next.

She didn’t really want to cater anymore. But she didn’t want to leave the business altogether. So the question became: What type of event would she ideally like to produce?

The answer was born on the dusty, desert road of I-15: CHOCOLATE.

By the time she reached Provo, she had a good chunk of her idea mapped out. There are home & decorating shows, RV shows, gun shows, bridal shows, scrapbooking shows, all of them expo events where vendors come and sell their wares.

Why not CHOCOLATE?

She gathered me and our younger sister Michelle around our parents’ counter top and declared that she had come up with the coolest idea ever, then asked us to come on board.

We went to New York’s Chocolate Show for inspiration, but found that it was primarily an industry trade show. We had something more in mind for the everyday chocoholic.

That first year turned into a heinous experience: We had a very sharp learning curve, made sharper by the fact that in 99.9% of cases, large corporations fund and produce expo events, not private individuals.

But on a skeleton crew, we managed to pull off what industry insiders called a “Cinderella Story.” A manager at the event center called in the president of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, saying, “You’ve got to come see this!” We were told that an average first-year show brings in about 2,000 people over 2 days. We hit nearly 6,000 in our first year, and each year that number has continued to grow.

Oh yeah.

So what is actually AT the show?

Each year it morphs and improves. For starters, we have some of the best chocolate vendors in the state (and some from out of state). A little-known secret is that Utah has some wonderful chocolate companies (that may be because in the land of Mormons that don’t indulge in alcohol, we need SOME vice!).

In addition to the vendors who sample and sell and provide early Christmas shopping, the show always has a demonstration stage with regular free demos by experts who provide big SAMPLES with recipes involving chocolate.

The hands-on classes are probably the most popular feature at the show: People learn and do, making a chocolate creation and then taking it home already wrapped for gift giving (assuming they don’t eat it first). Other classes are more experiential: the gourmet chocolate tasting class is always a hit, and last year we had a chocolate sculpting class taught by award-winning pasty chef Raymond Lammers from Stein Erekson Lodge. Other classes we’ve had include Beginner’s Dipping and Gourmet Apples.

Last year we added a make-and take area, where people could come make as many of whatever project they wanted and take them home. Less skill and time-intensive than an actual class, the drop-in workshop was an absolute hit.

Another element is the Chocolate Fountain Wonderland, decorated like a winter scene with three large chocolate fountains spaced throughout where people could take fruit, pretzels, and other yummies and dip them into dark, milk, and white chocolates.

There’s always a kids area, where children can make a simple chocolate treat themselves. Last year it was chocolate suckers.

Also in 2006, we had a chocolate sculpture gallery with the theme of “Fantasy and Fairytale,” which brought in creations ranging from fairies to Alice in Wonderland and Raymond Lammers’ amazing dragon sculpture. (See my picture gallery for that one—all I can say is WOW! And it was ALL edible.)

This year the show is adding a photography contest and a wedding cake competition, in addition to adding a sculpture contest.

Another new feature for 2007 is a THIRD day: a VIP opening premiere, with fun and prizes (and TREATS) available only that day.

As for me? I was Mel’s right-hand man (woman? Whatever—assistant director) for the first two years of the show, right in the trenches with her. The third year I had to scale back my involvement a tad to make room for my writing efforts.

And this year, the fourth, I’ve had to pull back even further. Sad, in some ways, because the show really is a ball to produce, but I’ve had to make choices, and my writing has to come first. (And then there’s the whole family thing—I can’t fragment myself up in too many pieces!)

So now I’m primarily writing the show’s weekly e-letter, where we provide fun show updates, give away tickets and chocolatey prizes, and include fun chocolate tidbits and stories throughout the year. And of course I’ll be at the show as part of the on-site staff.

If anyone here drops by, be sure to find me!

The 2007 show is November 15-17 at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah.

The show’s web site is in the process of getting a complete make over, but you can learn more about it and event sign up for the “Weekly Chocolate Fix” there: www.utahchocolateshow.com