Chocolate in the 18th century wasn't a candy like it is today.
It was almost exclusively a drink.
It's one of the things you can learn about at this year's Colonial Heritage Festival celebrating America's 250th birthday.
Brooke LaBarr is an 18th Century Chocolate Maker with The Olde Chocolate House and joined us with a demo of what she'll be showing at the Festival.
She says, "We stone grind our cacao beans in small batches to make the drink as authentic to the 18th century as possible."
The Colonial Heritage Festival is the largest living-history celebration of our Nation's founding west of the original 13 colonies. This event is free to enter, though all donations are gratefully accepted.
The festival is put on entirely by volunteers. More than 300 history interpreters come of all over the country to help people engage with the Nation's founding in a deeply meaningful way
You can visit a colonial village complete with a bakehouse, printing house, blacksmith, chocolate maker, potter, cooper (making buckets), chandler (making candles), book binder, gunsmith, hatter, paper maker, tinsmith, broom maker, silhouette cutter, wood worker, silver smith, leather worker, rope maker, horn maker, Luthier (making fiddles), basket maker, and much more.
There are also extensive militia exhibits and logs of hands-on activities for kids.
The Colonial Heritage Festival is July 2-4, 2026 at Scera Park, 600 South State Street in Orem.
You can learn more at festival.colonialheritage.org.
