This Sunday, the McLean Community Center will be transformed into a Willy-Wonka wonderland at the annual McLean Chocolate Festival.  The event is sponsored by the McLean Rotary Club, and this year Langley’s Interact Club members will also be volunteering during the festivities.

The Festival is a fundraising event that features vendors showcasing their chocolate desserts—including candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream—for guests to try.  Twenty-five percent of proceeds will be donated to local charities such as the Falls Church McLean Children’s Center, Homestretch, Literacy Council and Timber Lane Elementary School. The festival lasts from noon to 5:00 p.m., and admission is $1 for adults. But because this is a family event, children under the age of six can attend for free; and this is where the Interact Club comes in.

Langley Interact is putting rivalry aside and joining with McLean High School’s Interact Club to administer the children’s section at the Chocolate Festival.  Interact members will take shifts running chocolate-related activities such as chocolate finger-painting, a cookie-stacking contest and a chocolate mousse eating contest. “I’m mostly looking forward to playing with the kids,” said Interact president, senior Nicole Zaccack. “It will also be great volunteering with students from McLean High School.”

Because the goal of the Interact Club is to give back to the local area, Zaccack noted that participating in this particular event is “a great opportunity…the club is working directly with leaders in the community to plan the event.”

The Interact Club hopes to both connect with members of our area and raise money to support the local charities in need.