2010 Events at a Glance
History
What is the History?
The West Coast Chocolate festival started out in 2002 with an idea to raise money for youth arts and create a destination tourism event for the Tri Cities region. When the organizers realized that nobody in North America had an event like the festival they had imagined, they got to work. Though the first few years were dedicated to raising money for youth arts program, the festival soon realized it could benefit youth in other ways. The festival’s actions in recruiting and mentoring youth and the very positive feedback from the youth involved caused the organizers to change the festival mission to creating work experiences for youth.
Who is Coming?
The festival has an average annual attendance of 2500 with many events selling out and overall festival capacity at approximately 75%. Half of all attendees come from outside the host region from areas such as the BC Interior, Vancouver Island, California, Washington, Oregon, and Alberta. We target select consumers, not a mass audience, and offer unique and somewhat exclusive experiences and limited-seating events. Since 2002 we’ve increased our audience by about 75%.
The festival enjoys a wide variety of attendees depending upon the event. While alcohol and chocolate pairing events are geared towards adults, events such as the School and Chocolate, Chocolate Factory Tours, and Chocolate Tradeshow are more family-oriented.
