'Hot chocolate is for everyone': New festival brings sweet treats and even sweeter objective

Valentine’s Day and chocolate go hand-in-hand, but a new event in Greater Moncton is keeping the sweet treat front and centre for more than just a day.

Running from Feb. 16 to 25, Chocolat Moncton is the first hot chocolate festival in the area.

In its inaugural year, 14 different businesses and cafés from Shediac, Moncton and Dieppe have signed up to participate.

“Most of them are unique, most of them are special recipes that they’ve developed for this festival,” said founder Amber Richards.

The idea came to Richards after seeing hot chocolate day on the calendar. However, she felt one day wasn’t enough for what she hoped the event would accomplish.

While hot chocolate might seem like the star of the show, inclusion is what brought this festival to life.

“I really do feel that hot chocolate is for everyone,” said Richards.

Pointing to the fact that hot chocolate recipes can be adapted to meet dietary restrictions and preferences, Richards says it really is an inclusive beverage.

“It’s affordable, it’s a treat you can take the whole family out for,” said Richards.

“I’m on the board for Inclusion Advocacy SENB and, it’s also an organization that’s close to my heart, so I thought, ‘If hot chocolate is inclusive, why can’t we help other people who are feeling like they are not included in society.’”

During the 10-day festival, 50 cents from every cup sold will go back to Inclusion Advocacy SENB. 

“The money is going to go towards just kind of continue supporting the individuals and their families,” said Jessica Gallant, board of directors president.

“Doing a lot of advocacy work, like I said, being able to help in the school system, things like that. So, we are trying really to get up and running some of our programs that were cut unfortunately due to COVID, like a literacy program we were offering, things like that. So this will definitely be a big help.”

Gallant says the organization has been around since the 80s, but has been unable to help as many families as normal in recent years due to the lack of funding during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gallant said the community initiative came as a complete surprise to the organization.

“It’s really nice to see the support, the engagement from the community and I’m really excited to see what the turnout is going to be like,” she said.

Inclusion Advocacy SENB is a small non-profit organization and officials say it receives very little funding from the government.

“Inclusion Advocacy SENB is our regional association, registered charity, that supports the people who fall through the cracks,” said Richards.

“Sometimes people do get support from other organizations that do similar work, but they’re limited in what they can do. So anyone that falls through the cracks, we take them on.”

Café Inclusio in Dieppe is just one of the businesses participating in Chocolat Moncton this year. Café partner and manager Pierre Arsenault says the decision to join in was easy since the café promotes inclusion every single day.

Café Inclusio creates employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental challenges throughout the community.

“At first, we didn’t know what to do,” said Arsenault.

“We said ‘Well we don’t have a fancy chocolate thing,’ but Natalie, one of the other partners, she came up with a recipe on her own and we decided to offer two options: a mocha and a hot chocolate.”

The other idea behind the festival is to help give an extra boost to local businesses.

“At this time of year, it’s absolutely needed,” said Arsenault.

“We felt that since the new year, 2024. Business has been a little bit slow, especially when the weather’s not cooperating, especially cold and wind and the snow, but it’s a fun addition to our menu and hopefully people love it.”

While every little bit helps, Richards said she is hoping to raise around $30,000 for Inclusion Advocacy SENB during the inaugural hot chocolate festival.

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