Local businesses compete for the tastiest treats at the Flagstaff Chocolate Walk
by Dakota Lum
On Saturday Feb. 11 visitors and locals alike took to the streets of downtown Flagstaff with a “chocolate passport” in hand for the third annual Flagstaff Chocolate Walk.
The Flagstaff Chocolate Walk began three years ago when Anna Good became the event coordinator for the City of Flagstaff. Good says she wanted to create this event as a way to kick off the Valentine’s holiday. “There was an event similar to this in my hometown called ‘Chocolate Lovers Day’ so I wanted to bring that here,” Good said.
Last year over fourteen hundred people participated in the event. This brought a lot of business to the downtown area, however, for some places fourteen hundred was too much to handle.
As a way to ease the traffic, this year they split it up into two maps so each business would only get half of the crowd coming through its doors. With a total of twenty-eight different companies participating, every person got to experience fourteen different establishments: Big Foot Barbecue, Altitudes Bar and Grill, and The Golden Hive, to name a few.
Some notable chocolates would be the rich and creamy, dark chocolate truffles made by The Flagstaff Collective Coffee Company. Aspen Deli made a delicious chocolate sheet cake with whip cream and fresh strawberry puree. WHyld Ass took a more creative route with a jalapeño fudge.
In previous years there have been complaints that many of the businesses did not make homemade chocolate treats. To get more businesses involved The City of Flagstaff allows store bought chocolate as well as handmade, but only the homemade treats are eligible for the best chocolate competition.
All the proceeds from the event are donated to a different charity every year. This year there were two: the Coconino Humane Society and the Flagstaff Family Food Shelter. There were also pet adoptions in the visitor’s center during the event, although all the dogs were adopted very quickly.
While the event gives people a unique way to enjoy Flagstaff, there is a bigger picture behind the chocolate madness. “I want to attract people to places they’ve never been before and get them to come back,” Good said.
