I love hot chocolate. There is nothing better than a cup of hot chocolate, a good book, an oversized knit sweater, and a fuzzy blanket.

Until I attended a hot cocoa crawl!

This past February, about fifteen local businesses in Downtown Oshkosh participated in a hot cocoa crawl. The weather was perfect for such an event. It was windy and cold; giving you the perfect excuse to drink copious amounts of warm chocolate. Each business gave samples of about 5 ounces. Thanks to the Bare Bones Festival last month, I was much better equipped, both mentally and physically, for the event.

This time I wore warm socks with supportive tennis shoes so that my feet could keep up with walking from business to business. I had on a cowl and my winter coat. It wasn’t until the walk back to the car that I regretted not bringing mittens.

There was a check-in table just inside the Oshkosh Convention Center for the attendees to get their hands stamped and to pick up the ballot. This ballot served three important purposes.

  • It had a map of downtown that showed where each of the participating businesses was located.
  • The businesses were listed with 5 cups next to their name so that you could rank them as you went. a. BONUS: Under the business’ name was listed the hot chocolate each one was serving.
  • At the end of the walk, you voted for which hot cocoa was your favorite and that entered you into a drawing for a prize basket filled with goodies donated from the participating businesses.

There were so many good hot chocolate flavors! The first one I tried was a rich and creamy chocolate ganache that kept me warm as I walked to the next business. One business had a hot chocolate bar that included whipped cream, sprinkles, and cinnamon. Another business had made their own hot cocoa powder and printed off copies for attendees to take. They also had two different flavors one could mix by adding a certain number of pumps of flavored syrup. There was red velvet hot chocolate, unicorn hot chocolate, lavender hot chocolate, and bacon flavored hot chocolate to name a few others. Some of the businesses were restaurants/bars and these locations offered an “adult” version. For a few dollars, an individual twenty-one years or older could add in a shot that the business offered as a pairing.

The event was such a blast. It proved that this was a challenge best taken on as a group. The farther along the journey one got, the fuller one was; to which groups proved best so that you could share a cup. I had gone with four other people and while I tried to remain strong, the ounces eventually bested me and I, too, was sharing cups with my party.

Tickets had quickly sold out for the event. I was surprised to see the number of families, particularly ones with children under the age of ten that were partaking in the crawl. I will admit that most of the small children that I encountered were fairly well behaved, despite being on sugar highs. Most of the other attendees were under the age of forty, but there were some individuals older than forty.

Prior to starting on the walk, I was able to chat with the organizers of the event while I waited for one of my party members. They were hopeful that with such a large turnout, they would be able to talk the businesses into doing the event again next year. This crawl helped get me into businesses that I had no idea existed in the area, but also some that I had thought I wouldn’t be interested in going into. I highly suggest finding events like this in your own town. At the very least, you get in a good walk. At the most, you may find new businesses that you didn’t know were in your community.