Held in different communities across Canada, chocolate festivals are proving popular with eat-in and take-out patrons looking for a fun way to socialize while supporting a good cause. Currently, the closest festivals are in Vancouver, Squamish, and the Okanagan.

HIGHLIGHTS – HOW IT WORKS

* For the month of February, participating vendors in the Comox Valley are offering chocolatey food and beverages with their own unique twist. Plan your chocolatey treat, give it a name, establish your selling price and register with L’Arche Comox Valley.

* The event is promoted Valley-wide by L’Arche Comox Valley leading up to the event and for the month. Promotion includes local radio, social media, newspaper, posters around town, e-billboards and more.

* Patrons are encouraged to visit multiple vendors to try different treats and get involved by sharing on social media and rating their treats. In March, the vendors with treats rated tops by festivalgoers will be awarded bragging rights, receiving special mentions from the Festival, an e-badge and a certificate for posting.

Vendors – What’s In It For Me?

* Align your business with and support a good cause.

* Draw in patrons with the potential to sell even more than a chocolatey treat.

* Inexpensive advertising – The registration fee is $45. Your business name, logo, address and offering will appear on the festival’s Google Chocolate Map located on the festival webpage.

What’s In It For L’Arche? 
* At least $1 of every treat sold is donated to L’Arche Comox Valley by the vendors at the end of the festival.

* The festival is supported by a handful of generous sponsors.

* Big bonus! People across the Valley gain a greater awareness of L’Arche, our mission and our involvement in the community.

Terms and Conditions

1. Timing – The Festival runs from February 1 to 28, 2026. The chocolate festival offering must be available to customers each day that your business is open.

2. To register your offering with the Festival, you must complete the registration form and pay the registration fee. The fee, payable to L’Arche Comox Valley is $45. Once you have registered, your drink will be put onto the Festival website / Google Chocolate Map.

3. Donations from the sale of all treats must be received by L’Arche Comox Valley by Monday, March 9, 2026. It takes an immense amount of time to run the festival and we rely on your willingness to support L’Arche when reporting sales and submitting your donation.

4. Tax receipts – In accordance with Canada Revenue guidelines, vendors will receive a tax receipt for the total dollar amount of drink donations made. The registration fee is not tax deductible through L’Arche.

5. Naming your treat – In the event that two vendor’s treats have names that are too similar, the second vendor to register will be asked to give their treat a different name.

6. Customer ratings – Patrons will be encouraged to visit the Festival webpage to rate each treat they purchase. All ratings must be submitted by customers who purchased and/or tasted the beverage. Duplicate ratings are not permitted. Vendors may encourage customers to rate their treat on the festival website, but cannot go online themselves and provide ratings.

7. Marketing – L’Arche will provide electronic and paper marketing materials, including the festival logo that must be used in promotions by vendors.

To help create energy and traffic around their business and the festival, vendors are encouraged to invite patrons to try their treat(s) via the vendor’s website, blog and/or social media, menu/sandwich boards and server suggestion.