Mmmm, always room for another chocolate festival

Chocolate lovers will be adding another date to their calendars.

They already flock to Long Grove early each May for their annual Chocolate Festival and now Mount Prospect will be attracting the cocoa fiends in September for their new "Chocolate Mania" celebration.

"Twice a year is certainly not too often to celebrate this delectable treat," said organizer Laura Luteri of the Mount Prospect Public Library Foundation.

The big event will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday at the library.

If you already have your reservations in, you can surrender to your sweet tooth early at "Breakfast at the Chocolate Works," designed for children and adults alike. Chocoholics who like to wake up to their favorite treat will enjoy chocolate breakfast goodies served by volunteers from the Friends of the Library and the library foundation, as well as special entertainment.

Immediately following the breakfast, the "Great Chocolate Bazaar" will begin in the library lobby and its smaller meeting room and run throughout the day until 3 p.m.

Come satisfy your sweet tooth with a chocolate bake sale, sales of many other chocolate items (including ice cream) by local vendors and even a used book sale featuring cookbooks and chocolate-themed books collected by the Friends of the Mount Prospect Public Library.

The big finish for the day will be the "Unbelievable Chocolate Raffle" drawing for all kinds of chocolate-related items and baskets full of the things closest to a chocolate-lover's heart. Winners need not be present to win. Tickets will sell for $1 each or six for $5.

All proceeds from "Chocolate Mania" will benefit the Mount Prospect Historical Society which is raising funds to move the Central Schoolhouse; the Mount Prospect Library Foundation which raises funds for special programming at the library and the Friends of the Library which sponsors programs and purchases needed items for the library.

No registration is necessary for the chocolate bazaar and raffle.

Chamber launches student program:ŒThe Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce has announced that it will start an interactive decision-making workshop called "Choices" that empowers junior high school students to achieve academic success with an eye on their future careers and aspirations.

Trained chamber volunteers, armed with props, will make two 50-minute classroom presentations on the subjects of time and money management. During the course of the presentations it is hoped that the students will discover that making deliberate, wise choices about their education will give them more choices in the years ahead.

Junior high school principals or guidance counselors who would like to have their schools participate may phone the chamber at (847) 398-6616.