CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL COMING.

Byline: Karen Thacker Community Columnsit

Chocolate lovers, take note.

The Lancaster Education Foundation's A Taste of Chocolate festival is back this year with a bistro atmosphere and confections galore.

For $15 a ticket, patrons can sample a wide variety of cakes, cookies, candies, ice cream, pastries and more offered by some 45 vendors from Nestle to Trader Joe's from noon to 4 p.m. Jan. 30 in Antelope Valley Fairgrounds' Challenger Hall.

``What makes the festival so fun is the basic love of chocolate - it's a good product and people simply enjoy it,'' said event planner Annette Lorenzo. ``It's kind of like the adult Easter party.''

The patrons get to fulfill their chocolate cravings and beyond, and the nonprofit Lancaster Education Foundation gets to fill its coffers to aid science, performing arts, physical education and technology instruction for the Lancaster School District's 13,000 students.

The event returns after a two-year break, reorganized to keep the appealing aspects of the festival going and with a few changes.

The large sampling of chocolates remains the strong point of the festival. Vendors this year will only be food vendors who do chocolates, as opposed to businesses trying to market themselves while handing out candy, Lorenzo said.

Using a concept from the movie ``Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,'' Hershey bars will be sold as raffle tickets at the front door. Winning tickets will be hidden inside 25 of the bars.

Drinks will be offered this year, from chocolate coffee and cocoa to sparkling water and, of course, milk.

Tables will be set up for patrons to relax and enjoy the Antelope Valley Jazz Ensemble.

Vendors include Dinner at 7, Hometown Buffet, Mrs. Buttercups, Mrs. C's, Nestle, Costco, M&M/Mars, Steer and Stein, Velvet Basket, A.V. Inn, Desert Inn, Downtown Cake and Company, McDonald's, Applebee's, Alyee's Fine Foods, and Bagel Bakery.

The festival opened in 1994, reeling in 800 guests. The second year the crowd swelled to more than 2,000 and vendors were scrambling to keep samples available.

The turnout went down in 1996 when the event was split among three buildings. The event never came about in 1997, and last year when organizers tried to limit the crowd to 600 and raise the admission to $25, ticket sales were so low it was canceled.

Prices are back down to $15 a ticket with sales limited to 1,500.

Initial costs are being aided by this year's addition of corporate sponsors: GTE, Edison, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and High Desert Medical Group.

Obtain tickets by calling Lorenzo at [phone] or the Lancaster School District office at [phone].