Glendale Chocolate Affaire

After the holiday season and all its lights are gone, I start to worry a bit that Historic Downtown Glendale – my stomping grounds – will start to get a little bit dull. Fortunately, the fun wasn’t finished yet. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, everyone is thinking about chocolate… and Glendale has delivered! This is a large weekend festival dedicated to the cocoa you crave, and much more.
Basically, there are dozens of booths, many of which selling chocolatey snacks. Lots of fudge, chocolate popcorn, chocolate-​covered fruit, etc. The absolute star is San Francisco Chocolate and its massive tent, serving up huge $ 5 slices of frozen cheesecake dipped in melted chocolate. I got mine dark, and couldn’t even finish such a huge portion! Gosh, this really, totally, absolutely hits the spot.
But I wasn’t done. There was the turtle popcorn from another booth, covered in melted chocolate and pecans. There was also some real food, and a lot of what I’d call «fair food». I was practically in a coma by the end of it.
I think there are a few legitimate criticisms of this festival. It really comes down to the same two companies dominating the scene every year, and they mostly serve the same thing. That’s no fun. Fortunately, there were a lot of cool, smaller booths I didn’t recognize. Another is overall cleanliness. There were bees everywhere! They were attacking all the sugary snacks! This doesn’t bother me, but it will probably bother you. Finally, there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t chocolate. I saw, for example, gourmet $ 22 dollar freaking salad dressing. Really? Is this the time?
But overall, I’m going to go to this whenever I can, and I can find something new I like every year. I’m a fan, and would recommend this to anyone with a sweet tooth.

Enjoyed the chocolate fair this year. It was busy, but we were pleased to find it wasn’t as crowded as last year. Brought our root beer mugs from last time and got 2 root beer floats for $ 2! Awesome! The guy who helped us was very upbeat too which is always nice to see. Got a free sample of the cheese curds next door. Made the rounds and got a free sample from Nothing Bundt Cakes… it was the chocolate turtle. Very moist and tasty. Of all the food choices I was surprised to find there wasn’t any pizza… only the chocolate pizza, which is not worth it. They are $ 10 and tiny. Wanted to get something non-​sweet and decided on the garlic fries. Wanted bottled water too but they ran out. The fries were decent. Large stack with tons of minced garlic. Tried another vendor for bottled water but they were out too… Who runs out of bottled water?! That was a big strike.
We noticed San Francisco Chocolate was drawing the largest crowd and realized it was probably because they were the only vendor selling the frozen cheesecake. Other stands had the chocolate strawberries, bananas, and apples, but no cheesecake. I figured we’d take the shuttle bus over to the Cerreta’s factory and see if they had cheesecake over there. It was a nice, short ride and it wasn’t crowded over there at all. And the tent outside had cheesecake! And bottled water! Went in to buy some french mints to take home… I love those things. I’m always tempted to get the strawberries, but 5 for $ 15 is a racket. Got the cheesecake and had our pick of tables there to sit down and enjoy. Rode the shuttle bus back to find the whole place lit up! All the trees had festive lights and it looked really cool. I had never been to Glendale Glitters but I guess they left the lights up for the chocolate fair. Although parking was $ 10 and the Sears people kept bothering us to sign up for their shopping spree, we still had a good time.

Where was the chocolate? We were expecting all kinds of chocolate and chocolate themed items, there were only maybe 6 or so truly chocolate or pastry type vendors the rest were crafts and food or carnival kid things. We were very disappointed.

I have attended the Glendale chocolate affaire off & on for 16 years now. This year was seriously disappointing. The event was advertised as free admission & free parking. While admission was free, parking was $ 10! It felt more like a craft fair than one supposedly dedicated to chocolate. there were approximately 5 chocolate booths !!! The rest were craft tables & corporations trying to sell their crap! The kids enjoyed the carnival rides which were 3 – 5 tickets per ride at $ 1 per ticket. Ouch. We won’t be back, nor can I in good faith recommend anyone else going. Hopefully in the future glendale will take a closer look at who is renting their booths, and diversify a little better. Oh and offer better parking !!!

Unremarkable
Was excited after seeing an ad for this event in Phoenix Magazine. Wish we would have found something else to go to given all the options this Super Bowl weekend.
We could only find four true chocolate vendors. The bulk are really just normal carnie food purveyors.
Trees were nice and lit, but the area is run down, the grounds were somewhat dirty, and there were ample opportunities to hear short-​tempered people arguing who was really rude by walking past/​blocking/​not letting the other go.
Out of all the vendors here, we only liked the rootbeer float guy, the cheese curds/​mini donuts ladies, the the only premium chocolates booth (Xocolati?), and the Hawaiian food people.
Parking wasn’t too bad at least. We found a good number of spaces open towards 60, behind the businesses. $ 5 and only two blocks away. That’s IF you do want to go to this event.

I agree with the majority of the feedback given. feedback from attending in Feb of 2012. I also went to the Chocolate Affaire for the first time last year… WAS NOT IMPRESSED. Parking was horrendous. We had to park several blocks away, which I had not planned on, and with a sore heal to start with, I was hobbling to get there in the 25 minutes it took us to reach the event.
It was a much smaller event that we thought it would be. Not many chocolate vendors at all… some were out of the treats, the lines were horrible to wait in to get anything. We went on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, we were done with everything within an hour, and just roamed around to see if there was anything we missed, there wasn’t.
Glendale needs to have many more chocolate vendors. We only stood in one line to try the chocolate dipped cheesecake, which was wonderful, however, everything was very overpriced. If you had more vendors, the lines would be spread out better. I’m surprised there weren’t vendors or even home cook-offs…with chocolate cakes, pies, cookies… chocolate wine, hot chocolates, gnache treats, candies, cupcakes, cake pops… many more ideas of chocolate could be offered.
My friend and I have decided to try it again this year, but if it’s the same small event, with too many people, in too small of an area, and too little to offer, we will not attend in the future. We drive from South Chandler, and it was too far to drive for such an Un-​eventful event.
The review that Aileen gave (the only positive one I saw), makes me think she was one of the people sponsoring the event. She knew every type of food, and every booth that was there… I don’t think this was an honest review by someone just trying to see what the event was like. I think it was a review from someone who worked there, or sponsored it, trying to get more people to attend.
I hope 2013 gives us «chocoholics» a pleasant surprise with a much better event than 2012.

We’re residents of Glendale and as much as I love the downtown area I think I’m burned out on the chocolate festival. The same people and booths show up year after year, and they’re a lot of the same ones who come to Glendale Glitters.
If you love chocolate and don’t mind crowds, this is a fun time. Stop in at OTG (the pub) and check out whatever chocolate beer they have on tap. Get some root beer or a float from the guys who brew it from scratch. Save your mug and bring it back year after year for cheap refills.
There are some awesome restaurants in Downtown Glendale (Haus Murphy’s, Pizza al Forno, La Santisima), but they’re liable to be packed out the door during a big event like this.

After years of going I guess I’m burned out. The festival basically is the exact same each year. If you’ve never been, it is worth the trip. Gone before? Maybe.
Highlights of the weekend:
A chance to show off some of the cooler businesses in old town Glendale.
Chocolate.
Some guys that come each year with homemade root beer (worth it for them alone).
OTG (one of the pubs) generally has at least 1 chocolate beer on tap.
Great restaurants in downtown Glendale. Haus Murphy and Pizza al Forno are two of my favorites. Lenny’s is okay if you want a burger, fries, and malt.
Downsides:
Parking. All Glendale events have this issue. It’s not awful, but not great.
It is the exact same each year. Unless you are a real chocoholic I’d say it is worth going once or twice. But after a while it’s got a bit of that «been there, done that» feel. I don’t know what would help but this year we basically just did a loop around and had some root beer.
Go once. Go with friends or kids. Hit up some of the local businesses. But I’m not sure it is a year in and year out thing.

One of the best events in the area. Great selection of chocolate treats, wonderful shops and awesome bands! Try to come on the Friday or Sunday, Saturday evening is extremely crowded!

Don’t bring chocoholics here or you’ll go broke. This venue is set up pretty well. boutiques are placed around the library with the chocolate vendors. Small carnival rides to the east of the library & also north on the same street. Food vendors to the north with all your carney favorites. Down the street (within walking distance of course) beer & music. The Glendale chocolate festival is a great way to spend a couple hours in the day enjoying food & the earth of the sun on your face. unless you go at night of course, lol. Plenty of Antique stores around the venue & even a little mini venue just a block east of the chocolate festival. Like a garage sale/​mini swap meet you’ll find old & new here. If you love chocolate well then make a point to stop by & fill your desires!

Been coming to this event for the last four years. In that time, I’ve learned some tricks of the trade to make the most of your experience here. Here’s a couple of tips:
1. I would HIGHLY recommend coming on Friday night rather than Saturday or Sunday. The crowds are much lighter, the lines shorter, and finding parking in the area is much less cumbersome.
2. If you must come on Saturday or Sunday, get here right when the event opens. By 1pm the event is wall to wall people and the lines will only get longer as the day progresses
3. Start your visit by doing a lap around the perimeter of Murphy Park so you can examine each of the vendors. That way you can choose which ones you want to patronize in advance.
4. Work your way from lightest concoctions to heaviest. For example I usually will do something light like a chocolate covered pretzel to start and end with chocolate covered cheesecake. Its a good idea to mix in some salty snacks in between like roasted nuts or chips (both of which are also sold here).
5. They have a lot of chocolate vendors that come and go from year to year, but there are also ones that are annual mainstays. For good reason. They’re the best ones. Three mainstays I’d recommend trying: Cerreta’s (obviously), San Francisco Chocolate Factory, and Mr. Fudge.
6. The chocolate pizza station looks cool and your kids would probably love it, but its expensive. And if you’re an adult you’ll likely be disappointed with what you get for the money. My advice, skip it.
7. The prime parking area is around 56^th Ave. just north of Glendale. That area will put you basically right in between the main festival at Murphy Park and Cerreta’s Factory. If you don’t care to walk to Cerreta’s Factory, then try parking north of the main festival at Landmark Middle School.
8. That said, I do highly recommend making the trek to Cerreta’s Factory. The Factory has a much wider variety of candies and chocolates than their festival booth and its only about a half mile east of the festival.
9. There are military groups and rotary clubs that fundraise here. Be sure to give them a donation. Some of them will give you a coupon or a free treat as a heartfelt thank you. You’ll feel good helping them out too.
10. Read the street signs for parking. Glendale PD is out in force for the event and I’ve seen vehicles towed for parking in fire lanes, parking in handicap spots, and even blocking residents driveways
There are a ton of non-​chocolate vendors at this event too including live music as well as rides and attractions for the kids. And if you’re looking for a place to sit down and have a full meal before or after the event, La Piazza al Forno, A Touch of European Café, and Haus Murphy’s are excellent dining options in the neighborhood. Like I said though, if at all possible, go on Friday.

Kinda dissapointed! What is not to love about chocolate and sugar? Wine and music! But so many people, I started to feel agoraphobic… it was not this crazy in years past. Too many people, poorly set up. I still have to say, the chocolate possibilities save the day…
It is something to experience, if you have not yet been there, and touring Cerreta’s smells SOOOO good!
The other reviews were spot on for a Saturday event…

I wasn’t too impressed with the chocolate festival. Although the location itself was very picturesque with the tree lights and nice walkways, it was so crowded on Saturday that when you walked around, it seemed like you could only inch your way from booth to booth. When we actually got to the booths, we were disappointed to find that most of the chocolate goods for sale used chocolate as an «accessory» to the dessert rather than the main focus. For instance, while there were some booths that sold fudge, most of the booths were mainly selling some sort of fruit or main dessert dipped in chocolate. We came here in anticipation of trying out some chocolate dipped key lime pie, only to discover that the one booth that sold it, had sold out for the night.
In addition, when we were here it seemed like just a big conglomeration of booths, with only some of them selling chocolate. It seemed like most of the booths were either some sort of non-​food good (like jewelry, hair pins, etc) or fair-​type food such as lemonade and funnel cake.
I would have liked to see a chocolate contest, where the different booths have a different chocolate item for people to buy, with the winner announced at the end. I think this would have attracted more booths to offer more chocolate options.

**DON’T go on a Saturday**
The City of Glendale should rename this event — «Let’s See How Many People We Can Cram into the Velma Teague Library Park Affaire»
The City of Glendale has very strict city code enforcement and fire marshal ordinances, you’d think they would be more concerned with crowd control… nah!
I think every person who lives in the Valley must had been there on Saturday. Like others had mentioned, it was so should-​to-​shoulder crowded that you really couldn’t see much of anything among the masses of people in a small area.
(I begged DH if we could PLEASE go on a Sunday instead… esp during football, oops! What was I thinking to make that suggestion???)
The parking was horrible.
Didn’t see much chocolate (I can just go to Cerrata’s or See’s anytime without fighting a huge crowd of people).
Of what I could see, there were various vendors in the Mad Hatter parking lot (maybe they signed up with the Mad Hatter and not the city) that were selling some vintage stuff, collectibles, artsy stuff, crafts, etc.
The crowd was just too dense near the main area to get to the vendor tents — Velma Teague Library. I only managed to buy a bag of Kettle Corn before leaving.
There were food vendors and a inflatable jumping thing… and hundreds of people. Why doesn’t the city spread the festival down many blocked off streets, instead of containing it to one small area of the library lawn for hundreds of people to gather? Poorly planned.
Unless you are the type of person who relishes shopping on Black Friday or you like to visit Disneyland during the most busiest time of the year (Xmas break)…basically, my point is if you LOVE HUGE crowds, then you’ll love this.
If I want chocolate so badly, I’ll just microwave some leftover Snickers bars from Halloween with a bowl of pretzels.

2012: I know the city of Glendale must work extra hard at putting this annual event together. The signs are all there. And it is obviously has become very popular.
But, they need to re-​think the overall logistics considering its popularity. Parking was practically impossible. Public parking lots were all full. Every street parking spot was full. Business and private lots were charging and full too. Endless lines of traffic trying to find somewhere to park.
Once you did find a parking spot and walked the multiple blocks to get there, it was shoulder-​to-​shoulder people, dogs, strollers, wheelchairs, walkers, etc. Endless snake lines to get close to a booth and get anything to eat.
There were some wonderful chocolate booths — chocolate cupcakes, chocolate strawberries, chocolate dipped cheesecake, chocolate dipped key lime pie, etc. But, once again, the other booths seemed to outnumber the chocolate flavored ones. Lemonade, popcorn, fry-​bread, BBQ, artwork, t-​shirts, kids clothes, dog trinkets, jewelry, pottery, and on and on.
A Chocolate Affaire should be primarily CHOCOLATE!
Hopefully, in 2013, Glendale will find a larger venue with more parking and make sure that the larger percentage of booths are chocolate booths. There are so many chocolate options that I did not see. .. . at the Chocolate Affaire.

I think giving this 2 stars is being generous. For a chocolate affair, there really wasn’t a whole lot of chocolate vendors. It was pretty disappointing. There’s a whole bunch of these type of «festivals» throughout the year and we’ve been to two of them (the Glitter lights being the other) and both times I have been thoroughly disappointed. Parking sucks and PRICEY which i wouldn’t mind if they weren’t such a huge disappointment.
The choco vendors that were there I guess was pretty good but I’d say maybe 30−40% of the vendors there had anything to do with chocolate. Boo. :(

I was so amped up for this event and when I arrived, I was immediately unplugged. This was my first encounter with Glendale’s Chocolate Affair and my expectations were set WAAAAY too high. Where are the elaborate chocolate displays and demonstrations? Where are the artisians? The enthusiasts? The chocoholics? All I saw were ridiculous lines of people waiting to pay too much for your basic fair food in which some of it was dipped in chocolate. BFD. Maybe it was the best chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick ever, but I will never know because I’m not waiting any longer than 15 minutes to find out.
Next time, I’m just going to head down the Central Phoenix Farmer’s Market where I can give my money to local folks who are passionate about their craft and are fantastic at what they do. (Bite Me Brownies,
Wei of Chocolate, etc.) I won’t have to wait in line longer than It’s a Small World at Disney for some crappy apple dipped in chocolate.
Thankfully, we didn’t bring the dogs as they would’ve been trampled and I feel sorry for the people who had their little ones in strollers because they were like salmons swimming upstream. I overheard one dad say that he had had enough. He was taking the stroller back to the car and just carry the baby.
On a positive note, the entertainers were good for the time I was there and I found the little area shops charming.

I don’t think I was expecting anything better. It was a basic street fair with vendors everywhere, crowds, bad parking, and overpriced things.
We arrived to a ton of traffic and no parking. We finally gave up and paid $ 10 to park.
I was expecting more chocolate vendors. There were a few different options, but not much. It was basically chocolate covered strawberries or bananas, fudge, caramel apples, or a berry kabob. All were super expensive and didn’t taste any differently than if I would have just purchased the food from the grocery store.
My two daughters were excited about a few rides and jumpy castles, but the prices were so outrageous that I only allowed them to do one thing. It was $ 3 each for them to go in a bouncy castle for exactly 3 minutes. So $ 6 total for 3 minutes? Definitely not worth it! Especially since my two little ones had to dodge huge kids that were way too big to be playing in a bouncy castle to begin with!
I did like being able to walk through some of the older stores/​homes that sold cute antiques and stuff
It was something to do on a Saturday afternoon, but I don’t know if I’d go again.

02.06.10
Like every street fest, there are vendors, vendors and more vendors out to get my money.
A cop laughed at us when we posed under the «beer garden» sign. I thought that was pretty hilarious.
$ 4 root beer float, and you get to keep the cup. $ 1 refills, for life!
Chocolate and peanut covered bananas. ‘Nuff said.

My first choccy festival! I’ve longed to be part of this «affaire» since reading of its existence in the spring of ’03, the year I moved to the valley. I finally went, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s!
Planning on grabbing something to eat before attending the festival, and not able to spot anything intriguing on my way to 59^th and Glendale aves, I parked at the free public garage an hour before the event’s commencement. No sooner than when I exited my car did my brain register that yes, I’ll be consuming a lot of chocolates this afternoon: D The aroma of chocolates was definitely evident, even though the lot was relatively void of attendees. Oh, this is going to be fun! But first, I had to get some nutritious sustenance.
First tent I spotted was for the making of chocolate pizza, with Cerreta’s providing the tempered chocolate. There was already a line of people waiting to make theirs, and it was only 4p; My chances of scoring some food looked pretty good! However, it wasn’t going to be chocolate pizza, since the chocolate contained * (I asked). A-​ha! I spotted some food vendors just ahead…
Funnel cakes, Euro Gyros, Crêpe Tyme, Alice Cooperstown’s Coop-​zookies, hot fudge brownie sundaes, and The Big Unit… whoa! Anthony Bourdain did a segment on this hotdog, but I hadn’t realized how big it really is! (16″?!?) Too bad I left my cell in the car (I retrieved it after I had something to eat), or it would be among the pics above. Cooperstown also had BBQ pork sammies ($ 6 ea.), *-free, but I’d have to wait since they weren’t quite ready, so I kept walking. There were chile burgers, corn dogs, teriyaki chicken ‘n pork on sticks, lo mein, and chocolate-​covered potato chips. Honey Bear’s BBQ too was there, but their one BBQ sauce contained *… pass. (Hmm… is it me, or don’t the choices of vendors present seemed odd to pair w/​chocolate? I wondered, «What selections would I encounter if I were to attend San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival?»)
Beverage-​wise, there were snow cones, cherry-​lemonades, hot and cold cocoas, lattes, frappes, Budweiser beers, and Kokopelli wines. There was even Zemer’s homemade rootbeer, made w/​genuine sassafras from trees planted by the current owner Chris’ grandfather. (I didn’t approach Chris until after stuffing myself w/​samples ‘n goat milk fudge, pecans, 2 pork sammies, 2 glasses of wine, a dark-​choc. pecan patty ($ 2 ea.), and not one, but TWO smore’s on sticks ($ 3 ea.), so I couldn’t even imagine ingesting anything else at that point. Shame, since who knows when I’ll cross paths with Chris’ *-free concoction again?)
Since I was striking out on food, I approached a few chocolate vendors hawking samples. Corn ingredients kept me out of the game from the first few already: Cerreta’s caramel apples, Belgian waffles and ice cream, Mackinac Island fudge. Wei of Chocolate was a delectable possibility, but I was looking for more… oomph. I found it in Fossil Creek Creamery’s goat milk fudge (2 boxes, $ 6.50 ea.) and Amour Chocolates. I tried samples of the bars: dark choc. chile, dark choc. cherry pecan, white choc. espresso crunch, white choc. chile, etc. All quite good! So good, in fact, that I bought 20 bars! $ 1.95 per, or buy three or more @ $ 1.75 each. (I’d post pics, but it seems like all of the choc bars are aesthetically defective. Update: Trisha called back and said I can return and replace them, postage-​free.) Next came Nutz About Nuts! Oh, the aromas from this tent sent me reeling in a state of bliss! One moment I was sampling a cinnamon-​anonanon pecan and a sweet jalapeño pecan, and the next moment I was forking out $ 20 for 4 packs (or $ 6 ea.). OK, back to real food, please!
Corn, corn, everywhere forced me to have Cooperstown’s BBQ pork sammy and a glass of Kokopelli Winery’s merlot. Wanted a glass of their pinot noir since samples of cabernet sauvignon and merlot did not impress, but the «wine only» side didn’t have any pinot noir to sell (??). One complaint: A sign stated «Glass of wine $ 4, $ 5 Wine with souvenir wine glass,» and yet, there weren’t any glasses to take home. Many attendees were bummed about that. Me, too, But only for a sec. Who wants a plastic wine glass, anyway, and hey! Chocolate smooths out ALL the kinks, if you ask me: D
Must go to sleep (it’s 4a!). What a fun-​filled second-​half of the day I had… I was there for almost 6 hours!
P. S. Awesome tunes, too! All of the performers rocked!
2^nd Amour choc update: Was told last week not to send chocs back, but that defective chocs would be replaced as soon as new batches were made. Still waiting.
3^rd Amour choc update: Received batches of chocs. in great condition!