MSP Press Release/Article
Chocolate Walk a Success
Chocolate Walk A Sweet Hit
Portsmouth Daily Times, February 8, 2009
Large crowds of people with cabin fever chose to spend their first day out at Main Street Portsmouth’s Chocolate Walk Saturday. As temperatures rose into the upper 50s people walked from store to store in downtown Portsmouth, and in the Boneyfiddle district, sampling chocolate delights and learning about the stores they visited.
Midway through the day, Linda Donaldson of Main Street Portsmouth was busy delivering tickets and bags for chocolates. “I’ve delivered an extra hundred tickets to the Boneyfiddle Home & Garden Shop because they ran out at least twice,” Donaldson said. “I left about 145 here (Boneyfiddle Garden market) and they ran out and had to use some of their own bags. So we had to have between a hundred and two hundred I think.”
One of the main places people made sure they visited was B Sweet Chocolaterie, a business that specializes in a wide variety of chocolates. Owner Ellen Vetter talked about the concept for the Chocolate Walk. “We actually got the idea from the Main Street in Cambridge, Ohio during the Christmas holidays,” Vetter said. “And we thought it would be a perfect time to do a Valentine’s Day chocolate walk.” Vetter, surrounded by jars and boxes of chocolate treats, entertained people who had a hard time making a decision as to what treat they wanted to indulge themselves in. “Truffles are really our specialty,” Vetter said. “We have cappuccino, Valencias, our raspberry truffles and organic truffles.” That was just the beginning of the list of items she sells every day.
Aloma Wymer at Journey Within was surrounded by customers as she talked about her merchandise, including self-help books, reflexology, Emotional Freedom Technique and more. Wymer was allowing visitors to try deep fried Snickers bars. Donna Kinney, a floral designer, and her daughter Tammy Seaman at The Floral Shop were showing their designs created from live flowers, gift baskets and candles to people who were sampling their miniature cupcakes and peanut butter pretzels covered in chocolate. Linda Herrmann was visiting with guests at Tootsies, showing off her glassware, pottery and other items, and serving up “lots of kisses,” the chocolate kind. Jack Vetter was crossing the street, going from store to store. “We’ve sold chocolate, and we’ve been wandering around checking out everybody and enjoying the nice warm day,” Vetter said. “It’s nice to get out of the cabin.”
Portsmouth Daily Times, February 8, 2009
Large crowds of people with cabin fever chose to spend their first day out at Main Street Portsmouth’s Chocolate Walk Saturday. As temperatures rose into the upper 50s people walked from store to store in downtown Portsmouth, and in the Boneyfiddle district, sampling chocolate delights and learning about the stores they visited.
Midway through the day, Linda Donaldson of Main Street Portsmouth was busy delivering tickets and bags for chocolates. “I’ve delivered an extra hundred tickets to the Boneyfiddle Home & Garden Shop because they ran out at least twice,” Donaldson said. “I left about 145 here (Boneyfiddle Garden market) and they ran out and had to use some of their own bags. So we had to have between a hundred and two hundred I think.”
One of the main places people made sure they visited was B Sweet Chocolaterie, a business that specializes in a wide variety of chocolates. Owner Ellen Vetter talked about the concept for the Chocolate Walk. “We actually got the idea from the Main Street in Cambridge, Ohio during the Christmas holidays,” Vetter said. “And we thought it would be a perfect time to do a Valentine’s Day chocolate walk.” Vetter, surrounded by jars and boxes of chocolate treats, entertained people who had a hard time making a decision as to what treat they wanted to indulge themselves in. “Truffles are really our specialty,” Vetter said. “We have cappuccino, Valencias, our raspberry truffles and organic truffles.” That was just the beginning of the list of items she sells every day.
Aloma Wymer at Journey Within was surrounded by customers as she talked about her merchandise, including self-help books, reflexology, Emotional Freedom Technique and more. Wymer was allowing visitors to try deep fried Snickers bars. Donna Kinney, a floral designer, and her daughter Tammy Seaman at The Floral Shop were showing their designs created from live flowers, gift baskets and candles to people who were sampling their miniature cupcakes and peanut butter pretzels covered in chocolate. Linda Herrmann was visiting with guests at Tootsies, showing off her glassware, pottery and other items, and serving up “lots of kisses,” the chocolate kind. Jack Vetter was crossing the street, going from store to store. “We’ve sold chocolate, and we’ve been wandering around checking out everybody and enjoying the nice warm day,” Vetter said. “It’s nice to get out of the cabin.”
Many people made their way to Port City
Cafe and Pub where John and Barbara Hogan were serving a new drink
concoction that was right in step with the days activities. “It’s called a
Cherry Chocolate Cordial,” Barbara Hogan said. “It has Creme d’Cocoa,
Grenadine, chocolate swirls and a cherry.”
Frank Lewis may be reached at (740) 353-3101, Ext. 232.