Oompa-Loompa - Its A Choctastic Fest!

So, there I was, standing in the cold and rain at West Bank waiting on a photocall to come together when a striking looking girl in a green wig, brown stripey skirt and yellow face strolled past in impossibly high platform shoes. Not a sentence I ever thought I’d type!

She was the tallest and most gorgeous Oompa-Loompa that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and, it turns out, one of the tastiest there is! Because when she’s not strutting her green curls around car parks, Stacy Galfskiy is the organiser of this year’s Festival of Chocolate. Yep, you heard me right folks! An entire weekend of all things chocolatey awaits you! WHOOP!

In a rather bizarre start to the story, Stacey tells me she's from Chillilicious in Fife. What’s a girl who grows chillies for a living doing running a chocolate festival I want to know? I like my sweet treats, well… sweet!

Turns out she came along to last year’s event with their range of Chilli Chocolate Bars and sold out within hours!

“It was a fabulous event. We do loads of festivals and markets and we always love coming to Perth because the people are so wonderful. It was really busy – we had to call for back up bars to come through from the Farm!  I think food as a Christmas Gift is always a hit and chocolate is everyone’s favourite isn’t it?”

Stacey has helped run lots of events across Scotland and when the tender went out for Perth’s Festival of Chocolate she jumped at the chance to grab hold and take it to a whole new level!  She had a vision for a Festival that would be a wonderful experience for visitors AND a great event for the chocolatiers and artisan crafts people standing around in the cold November street!

“If the traders are having a good time then the market is buzzing and everyone enjoys themselves. We want people to come along and enjoy the entire event. Even if they're just browsing, soaking up the atmosphere of a great day always raises a smile.  The Christmas Light Switch On will be happening on Saturday and being part of such a big day is just incredible for all of us.”

As you’d expect, you’ll be able to browse through stalls full of chocolate treats in all shapes and sizes. Perthshire favourites Charlotte Flowers Chocolates, The Wicked Chocolate Company and Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier will all be there along with a whole host of more unusual chocolate themed stands.

“We have Black Dog Textiles who make bags and handbags out of upcycled materials. She uses Chocolate Bar wrappers as pockets and they’re a really fun gift.  Gerard, one of Perthshire’s leading pastry chefs will be there with an amazing chocolate macaroon demo and to be honest, this is probably going to be one of my personal highlights!”

Gluten Free, Lactose Free goodies from Considerit Chocolate and The Cook Room; Harry's Gourmet Treats for spoiling the dog and row upon row of delicous chocolatey drops from heaven!

In true chocolate fan style, there’s a Golden Ticket to be found amongst the stands and the winner will be able to pick up lunch from the amazing Crepe Stall.

Just as I thought it couldn’t get any better she pulls out the Chocolate Awards and asks if Gill and I would like to come along with our #SmallCityRecipe hats on and help judge! HOLD US BACK!  So between 11am and 1.30pm we’ll be sitting in Willow’s Coffee Shop tasting/scoffing and making a decision on who deserves to be crowned as the winners at the inaugural National Chocolate Awards.  And just to get ourselves in the mood, we're perfecting our best ever Chocolate Truffles recipe all week long for this Thursday's recipe spot - selfless girls that we are! 

You can all come along to Stacey’s Chocolate Demo Stall afterwards to find out who we’ve deemed to be the best and help roll me round to Live Active Rodney! 

There’s loads of freebies being handed out, more oompa-loopmas than you can shake a tunnocks teacake at and you can also have your pic taken with one of the many chocolatey mascots. LOVE LOVE, LOVE!

Find out timings and grab a full list of exhibitors on our Perth Festival of Chocolate page.  

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While you’re out and about, take come pics and tag them #PerthLoveFest to be in with a chance of winning £50 to spend with one of Perth’s Independent Retailers before Christmas. Check out our #PerthLoveFest page here!