During Commonwealth Day holiday weekend, Toledo district once again hosted the Toledo Cacao Festival organized by the Toledo Chapter of BTIA and the Toledo Cacao Growers Association.

The festival is becoming established as a regular feature on the Belize tourism calendar and attracting visitors both from within Belize and overseas. Toledo itself can be justly considered as the original home of cacao and chocolate which has played such an important part in ancient Mayan life. Today the TCGA sends its members beans to Green and Black’s in the United Kingdom where it is transformed into their world renowned Mayan Gold orange flavored chocolate.

Mayan Gold chocolate was the very first Fair Trade product in the UK back in these days an increasing acreage in Toledo is being given over to the organic cultivation of cacao and Green and Blacks pay above the market rate for the beans. The cultivation of cacao is a win-win situation for the environment since cacao is a sub canopy species and grows best in the shade of other trees. This discourages slash and burn agriculture and the farmers are now being encouraged to intercrop their cacao with other cash crops such as allspice. Green and Black and TCGA together have done more to make a difference to the economy and well-being of the people of southern Belize than any number of development projects.

The annual cacao festival is the fun part which celebrates Toledo’s central importance in this sector of the economy. As in previous years the festival began on Friday night with a wine and chocolate evening at the University of Belize campus in Punta Gorda. Students from the Tumul Kin Center of Learning in Blue Creek village provided marimba accompaniment while a selection of Garifuna and Creole songs were performed by students of the Delile Academy Choir from Dangriga.

The Taste of Toledo fair took place all day on Saturday in PG’s Central Park. The day’s events included a cookery fair centered around chocolate recipes. There were cookery presentations as well as a craft tent selling locally designed and produced craft products. The Cacao for Kids section of the fair included face painting, story telling, punchboard a chess competition and more.

A feature of Saturday night’s entertainment was the first ever Miss Cacao Fest Pageant where the participants were asked to demonstrate their knowledge of their own culture as well as their knowledge of the history of cacao and its production.

Sunday the third and final day of the festival featured the cacao trail tours and cultural presentations at Lubaantun Maya site. The cacao trail tours are run by Bruno Kuppinger who took visitors to see a working cacao plantation. The events at Lubaantun included a performance of the Mooro Dance as well as a performance of the Mayan Ball Game. The Mooro dance tells of the wars between the Maya and the European conquistadores and includes stylized battles and sword fighting.

To find out more email info@Toledochocolate.com, or call the Festival Office on 722-2531. For more festival information see the Calendar of Events visit the web site at www.toledochocolate.com