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HEARD MUSEUM BRINGS BACK A TASTE OF THE SWEET LIFE AT ‘HAUTE CHOCOLATE’ MARKET & FESTIVAL

Photo Courtesy of the Heard Museum.

Local chocolatiers offer chocolate tastings; enjoy chocolate cocktails while models walk the runway in beautiful outfits partially made with edible components – including chocolate!

Chocolate tastings offered by local chocolatiers and top resorts, live entertainment, chocolate cocktails and a “chocolate couture” fashion show will delight visitors to the second annual Haute Chocolate Market & Festival on Friday, Jan. 31, at the Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.

A highlight of the evening—5:30 to 8 p.m. in the Heard’s Steele Auditorium—will be chocolate couture in the form of a live fashion show, produced with the East Valley Institute of Technology: Chocolate and other edibles will be found in components of each outfit the models will be wearing!

Vendors who have confirmed participation include: Art Institute of Phoenix, b Naked Chocolate, Chakra 4, Chocolade van Brugge, Chocolates by MJosephs, Courtyard Café, DD’s Desert Delights, East Valley Institute of Technology, Fairy Tale Brownies, Goodytwos Toffee Co., Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch, It’s a Divine Bakery, Paletas Betty, The Phoenician resort, Pistol Whipped Pastry; Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain hotel; Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, Sherrye’s Kitchen, Stone Grindz, Super Chunk Sweets and Treats/Cowboy Ciao, and Wei of Chocolate.

Tickets are $40 or $70 for two, with a special limited VIP package – early entrance at 5 p.m., a signature drink, a souvenir tote bag and premium seating for the chocolate fashion show — available for $75 per person. Tickets and information are available at heard.org/chocolate. The Heard’s Courtyard Café will reopen for dinner on Jan. 31 from 4 to 7 p.m., featuring a special chocolate-based menu that is detailed at heard.org/chocolate. Space is limited; reservations are recommended at 602-251-0204. And the Heard Museum Shop will be open during the festival, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The Heard is currently displaying an exhibit telling of chocolate’s origins in the cacao plant of Central and South America, and how, through trade with Native peoples, it made its way to North America, then to Europe and the rest of the world. Chocolate, Chili and Cochineal is on display through Nov. 30, 2014. Information on the exhibit — which requires separate admission to the museum during its regular hours — is available at heard.org/currentexhibits/ChocoChiliCochineal.html.