Welcome to the Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam area of beautiful southwest British Columbia… where culture meets nature, and chocolate is magic!

No ordinary chocolate event, our festival inspires, informs, surprises, entertains, and above all celebrates chocolate. Events can be savoured individually, or experienced successively for the ultimate chocolate experience ... the indulgent little escape we all need once in a while.

And as if that's not enough, your mere presence grows our mission: mentoring youth in event production and marketing, showcasing emerging artists and performers, and modeling our mindfully appreciative approach to chocolate and to life.

The West Coast Chocolate Festival—first launched in 2002— is a unique and innovative collection of individual events occurring throughout the TriCity area of Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam. Our various high calibre chocolate-themed adult and all-ages events celebrate the magic of chocolate and appeal to the senses and the soul, attracting guests from surrounding cities, the BC Lower Mainland and beyond. With chocolate as a powerful draw, we leverage events to bring people of all ages and cultures together as well as aim to raise awareness about proper consumption and the lesser-known positive benefits of the incredibly appealing food.

The festival thrives upon a passion for empowering youth through mentorship initiatives by providing positions for students in various festival projects, which cover a wide variety of areas of study.

Mission Statement — Initially our goal was to raise funds for youth arts projects in the TriCities. However, by 2005 it was clear our true mission was creating mentored work experiences, and so our mission became:

To inspire and entertain through events that celebrate the magic of chocolate and appeal to the senses and the soul, and to facilitate mentored festival work experiences for youth, as well as creating presentation opportunities for emerging artists and performers.

The West Coast Chocolate Festival ran annually until 2008 when we decided to take a one-year break to restructure and reintroduce the festival in 2009 with new and exciting events. In the past, the festival has typically taken place for a five-day period in the month of October, after Thanksgiving and before Halloween; however, the timeline remains quite flexible.

See 2009 Festival Event Schedule

Each year the festival runs, events offered may be repeated from past years or introduced as new features. Various events run in the past include:

Alcohol and Chocolate Pairing Events — these high calibre adult events offer sophisticated pairings which combine chocolate and either beer, wine, or scotch. They are MC’d by a festival representative but led by an experienced sommelier or connoisseur from a sponsoring chocolate company such as Rogers, Denman Island, or Lindt. Events usually include at least three different pairings to sample, include performances by local talent is a feature, and run for approximately 2.5 hours.

Chicks and Chocolate — a popular event geared towards women featuring live entertainment, vendor booths, food and beverages, as well as exciting highlights such as dance demonstrations and fashion shows has evolved into a Salon du Chocolate – entertaining, enlightening, sampling, and evening of tastings, and scope of the festival.

Chocolate-chip Pancake Breakfast — a less-costly option geared towards all ages, this event includes Willy Wonka-themed activities, live musical performances, and of course, a delicious buffet-style pancake breakfast.

School of Chocolate — an informative all-ages presentation led by a festival volunteer educating the audience about the origins, health benefits, and proper etiquette for chocolate. Can be interactive and include chocolate sampling as well as some audience involvement.

The festival is run almost entirely by community volunteers not chocolatiers. Involving approximately 75 adult and 100 student volunteers yearly, specific roles vary; some individuals donate time only during the festival while others are involved year-round. Generally, adult and student volunteers work in collaboration to create, coordinate, prepare, and execute all festival events.

We welcome all who wish to explore the world of chocolate –
a world filled with amazing flavours for the senses and the soul.

Learn more about opportunities to be involved!

A wide variety of students are involved in the festival from those belonging to local groups and organizations, government summer job funding programs and secondary school work experience programs. The West Coast Chocolate Festival prides itself on its innovative mission to leverage the festival to create mentored work experiences for youth in disciplines like marketing, event production, graphic design, culinary arts, project management, public speaking & presentations, and to showcase emerging talent – performers and artists. We also take care to present appreciation of chocolate in a cultural and informational context, not one that encourages over-indulgence.

Roles in the festival vary accordingly; summer job mentorship students tend to be directly involved with festival coordination, event planning, promotion, and marketing while high school students and youth volunteers may work on more specific tasks such as greeting guests or gaining first-hand experience by working with chefs and chocolatiers at specific events.

The festival offers a variety of summer job positions. Tasks are not exclusive to each position and often overlap.

Festival Coordination Assistant — event planning details, sponsorship applications, media representation, promotional events, Maximizer database updates, responses to emails and inquiries, venue booking

Marketing Assistant — website maintenance and updating, graphic design, chocolate trail brochure, marketing and advertisement, chocolate wave presentation, chocolatefestival.ca email

Learn more about how you can become a valued festival sponsor!

To receive Festival Updates, email us to subscribe to our mailing list. We guarantee not to share or sell e-mail addresses.

For more information regarding the 2009 West Coast Chocolate Festival please email or phone 604-939-8068.

View our Chocolate Wave presentation on all about chocolate!

Sponsored by