Chocolate makers, home bakers and face painters filled the Abba Shrine Center over the weekend as the Mobile Chocolate Festival returned for its seventh year, once again drawing a crowd eager to sample sweets while supporting a local cause.
Vendors lined the hall with everything from chocolate ice cream spiked with hot sauce to chocolate-syrup mustache art, vodka martinis, baklava, cakes and candies, all built around the festival’s central ingredient. A competitive edge ran through the event as well, with adults, high schoolers and younger children entering a “chocolate challenge” that featured raspberry truffles, a brownie martini, cupcakes, pralines and a chocolate sundae cake among the creations judged.
Behind the sugar rush is a serious mission. Proceeds from the festival benefit Penelope House, a Mobile-area organization that provides shelter and services to victims of domestic violence and their families. Executive Director Toni Ann Torrans said the festival has grown into one of the nonprofit’s most reliable fundraisers, though its popularity was far from guaranteed when it launched.
The idea traces back to Torrans’ mother, Kathryn Coumanis, who first dreamed up a chocolate bake-off as a simple way to raise money. Torrans expanded the concept into a full festival, first held in 2009 at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds inside the 43,000-square-foot Hocklander Hall. Uncertain how many people would show up, organizers had the massive space piped and draped down to a fraction of its size so a modest turnout wouldn’t look sparse. Roughly 400 to 500 people came that first year, a turnout Torrans described as both a relief and a surprise given how unpredictable planning a brand-new event can be.
Seven years later, the festival has become an established fixture on Mobile’s community calendar, giving Penelope House a way to fund its work while also opening a door to a subject that can be difficult to discuss publicly. Torrans said domestic violence isn’t an easy topic, and many people tend to avoid it, which is part of why the festival’s dual purpose matters: it functions as both a public awareness event for the organization’s mission and a straightforward draw for people who simply want a plate of chocolate.
Organizers say the event’s growth over the years reflects both Mobile’s appetite for community fundraisers built around food and the steady need for support services like those Penelope House provides to families across the region.