Festival at MOSI is a chocoholic's sweet paradise

If it's true that anything worth doing once is worth doing twice, the saying is especially accurate when it involves chocolate.

Which explains why the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa will host its second Festival of Chocolate this weekend.

The festival showcases the area's top chocolatiers and confectioners, who sell everything a chocoholic could love.

Last year's three-day extravaganza of sweetness drew 9,000 people, said festival producer Aileen Mand. This year's event, which starts Saturday and runs though Monday at the museum, is expected to attract more visitors.

"Whether you're 2 or 102 there's nothing better than feeling like a kid in a candy store," Mand says.

Building on last year's success with classes and wine pairings, the festival will add several new attractions and events and expand into the Kids In Charge building next door. Additions include:

• A wedding cake competition during which four teams will get two hours to build and decorate as guests watch and root for their favorites.

• A "cocoa couture" fashion show, during which dresses made with chocolate and candy wrappers are modeled along a "yumway" outfitted with a chocolate fountain. Judges will name a winner. A people's choice award also will be bestowed.

"It is very Lady Gaga," Mand says. "At least 50 percent of the dress has to be made with wrappers."

• A chance for kids to make "armpit fudge." It sounds grosser than it is.

"You measure different products, put them in a plastic bag, put the bag under your armpit and do some maneuvers," Mand says. The body heat and movement mushes the ingredients together to produce makeshift fudge. "You open the bag and it is heaven to eat."

• Games of Brownie Bingo, in which players learn chocolate trivia and mark their bingo cards with M&M's candies. "The fun part is that we're strongly supporting eating the pieces if you don't win."

• An "adult-only chocolate playhouse" where chocolate martinis and chocolate wine will be sold. Tampa Bay Brewing will offer a Cocoa Nib beer for a short time on Saturday.

• A "double-dare you" area for adventurous chocolate lovers to push their gastronomic boundaries by eating jalapenos, ants and crickets dipped in chocolate, as well as chocolate-flavored beef jerky.

To avoid lines on the days of the festival, tickets can be purchased in advance online at http://tampa.festivalofchocolate.com. Ticket buyers also can enter a drawing to be a judge at the festival.

MOSI Festival of Chocolate

What: A festival celebrating all things chocolate

Where: 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa

When: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday

Cost: Adults, $20.95; seniors, (60+), $18.95; children, (2-12): $16.95

Info: http://tampa.festivalofchocolate.com/