Transcript Staff
Tickets are on sale now for the Firehouse Art Center's 27th annual Chocolate Festival 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 7 at Norman North High School, 1809 Stubbeman Ave.
Advance tickets are available at the Firehouse Art Center, 444 S. Flood Ave. Tickets also will be available at the door.
Chocolate tasting sessions are 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for members of the Firehouse Art Center and $18 for non-members, and include 10 chocolate samples. A premiere, one-hour tasting session will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and includes 15 chocolate samples, a container to take home leftovers and a complimentary drink. Premiere tickets are $25 for members and $30 for non-members.
"The tickets to the Chocolate Festival are always the hottest tickets in town," said Carla Chew, operations coordinator. "And if you want to get premiere tickets, you especially need to hurry, because those always sell out fast."
This event features nearly 40 chocolate vendors each year and is the primary fundraiser for the Firehouse Art Center. The Chocolate Festival typically draws a crowd of around 3,000 each year.
The Firehouse Art Center's Chocolate Festival was ranked third among food festivals in the United States by the Food Network, has been featured in Southern Living Magazine and won this year's Frontier Country Grand Award for Outstanding Food Festival in Central Oklahoma.
The Chocolate Festival will provide free child-friendly activities that promote art education. Firehouse instructors will be on-hand to give live demonstrations of the types of art education one could expect to receive at the Firehouse Art Center.
For the second year, children will again be encouraged to create a Children's Art Wall, which will be displayed in Lions Park, just north of the Firehouse Art Center. Children judged to have created the best painted panel on the art wall will receive scholarships to the Firehouse Art Center's after school art program.
"Firehouse Art Center is committed to making sure that children have access to classes in the visual arts," said Douglas Shaw Elder, executive director.
Memberships to the Firehouse Art Center are available by calling 329-4523. The Firehouse Art Center is funded in part by select grants from the Oklahoma Art Council, Norman Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Norman Parks and Recreation Department, as well as corporate sponsorships from Republic Bank and Trust, Big Red Sports and Imports, Arvest Bank and Sigmon Wealth Management, Inc. However, a significant amount of the annual income comes from FAC memberships and revenue from the Chocolate Festival.
All proceeds of the 27th annual Firehouse Art Center's Chocolate Festival will help support visual arts education, exhibits and programs offered by the Firehouse Art Center.
For more information on the Chocolate Festival, call Chew at 329-4523 or visit www.normanfirehouse.com.
