Chocolate Affaire

Now I’m really exhausted! The weekend before last I had the pleasure of working on the Glendale Chocolate Affaire- preliminary estimates are saying nearly 100,000 people attended during the event’s 3-day run. Physical set-up began that Wednesday, and Friday and Saturday I had to work 14 hour days and Sunday was only 9 hours, but that included tear-down (which goes quickly but feels long because you’ve been on your feet all weekend)! So, what were some big things I actually did! Let’s see…
During the event we needed 3 mini-buses to run between the main event site and Cerretas Candy Company to transport participants to free tours of the chocolate factory. I couple weeks prior the shuttle company Glendale had planned on using decided they would no longer be using mini-buses as of February 6th, forcing us to find a new company. I was given the task of calling bus companies and getting quotes and basically choosing who to contract with, a bit stressful since there was a lot of money involved. I took my findings to my supervisor and with my input, we decided which company to go with and I set things up. Well, day of the event, instead of sending us 3 mini-buses, the company sent 1 mini, 1 normal, and a really huge coach bus- my supervisor was furious! Luckily, it wasn’t my fault as the contract stated that we wanted 3 mini-buses and the company has probably just decided to “over-deliver”, which is fine and dandy in some situations, but we didn’t have enough room to line up the large buses. In the end things worked out, but this was a good example of when one shouldn’t over-deliver; more isn’t always better.
Another huge concern the weekend of the event was the potential for rain. The tents, although heavy and strapped down with sandbags have the potential to lift off the ground during a storm should there be gusts of wind- which would mean the staff would have had to run around unfastening the back of the tents so the wind could escape. Magically, it never rained during event hours, and all day that Sunday, one could see clouds in different directions surrounding the Chocolate Affaire, but the rain held off. However, it did rain overnight that Saturday- so Sunday morning we had to dry off chairs and tables- and while doing so I kept thinking to myself it didn’t matter because probably only a few people would show up and they surely wouldn’t want to sit down, but before the event started people were pouring into the park and some even gathered napkins and finished drying off the chairs themselves! One really interesting trend I noticed during the Chocolate Affaire was how early people showed up every day. The event is held in the middle of downtown Glendale and although some surrounding streets are closed, the public park where the event held never is and people can walk through whenever they please. The event opened at 10am on Saturday- which everyone thought was a mistake (and that it shouldn’t start till 12p), but early as 8:30am people came strolling through the park and soon as vendors arrived at their booths people were asking if they were serving food yet! Overall the event was a huge success and I loved being a part of it, I worked hard, and I got to try some new things, like chocolate covered potato chips!