Frost-filled fun: Winter Fest returns this weekend with a hot cocoa tour, ice carving competition, food trucks, and more

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell makes out the final design using steamed milk to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell makes out the final design using steamed milk to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell presents the hot cocoa cup at the store on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now feature a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now feature a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell makes out the final design using steamed milk to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell makes out the final design using steamed milk to make the hot coco on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more.

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more. InTown Concord—Courtesy

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more.

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more. InTown Concord—Courtesy

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more.

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more. InTown Concord—Courtesy

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more.

Winter Fest includes an ice carving competition, food trucks, s'mores, a hot cocoa tour, and more. InTown Concord—Courtesy

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out steamed milk to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out steamed milk to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell presents the hot cocoa cup at the store on Wednesday. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell presents the hot cocoa cup at the store on Wednesday. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell pours out the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell presents the hot cocoa cup and a to-go cup at the store on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell presents the hot cocoa cup and a to-go cup at the store on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

The hot coco to go cup and cup at the store on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour.

The hot coco to go cup and cup at the store on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour.

Revelstoke Coffee chef lead Jordan Campbell stirs in steamed milk into the mocha to make the hot cocoa on Wednesday, January 22, 2205. Winter Fest, a staple of January in Concord for the past seven years, will now have a hot cocoa tour. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

By RACHEL WACHMAN

Monitor staff

Published: 01-22-2025 4:31 PM

Modified: 01-22-2025 10:38 PM

Berit Brown dreamed of participating in a hot cocoa tour. She pictured people strolling along Main Street with mugs of steaming cocoa and a stampable passport in hand for rating their sips of liquid chocolate at various stops.

Her vision didn’t exist in Concord, so she figured why not start it?

Brown, the events and marketing manager at InTown Concord, first approached different coffee shops about taking part in the project and received enthusiastic support. The tour aims to create a new way to experience Concord’s culinary scene, escape the cold for a while and engage with local businesses.

“I hope people will get to try a new place and get to meet some new people doing the cocoa tour,” Brown said. “It’s a silly enough thing that you’ll end up talking to someone else who’s on it and be like ‘hey, what did you think of this cocoa? What did you think of the one at the last place?’”

The $35 tour includes hot beverages from Revelstoke Coffee, Brothers’ Cortado, Gibson’s Cafe, The Bean & Bakery and Teatotaller along with a ceramic mug and passport. A ticket for a child 10 years old or younger is free with the purchase of an adult ticket.

“It’s a good opportunity to see a lot of downtown businesses,” said Alex Stoyle, owner of Revelstoke. “I think people tend to have their favorite coffee shop and probably stick to it. I’m excited to maybe present ourselves to some new folks who maybe haven’t been in before or haven’t tried our hot chocolate before.”

The self-guided tour is the newest addition to Concord’s Winter Fest, which is back downtown this weekend for the seventh year in a row.

“It’s memory-making, an added piece of Winter Fest. It’s the joy of winter, you get to have ice sculptures and snow but you also get the warm and cozy to balance it out,” Brown said.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

On Saturday, the State House lawn and Capitol Street will transform into a winter wonderland complete with free s’mores, food trucks, an ice carving competition and awards ceremony, axe throwing, a meet and greet with adoptable dogs from Darbster Rescue, a live DJ and more. On Friday afternoon and evening, ice sculptures displayed on the State House lawn will offer a preview of the next day’s festivities.

“It’s very cool to be able to watch downtown come to life, especially during the winter,” Stoyle said. “January’s always a little slower. It’s good to see people still coming out and participating in events in the dead of winter.”

This year’s festival features more food trucks than ever before, according to Brown, with businesses such as Batulo’s Kitchen, Bubble Bee Milk Tea, Cali Arepa NH, Canterbury Kettle Corn, Mi Corazon Taqueria, Teenie Wienies and Wicked Tasty ready to feed the community.

“Especially for a winter event, it’s hard to be brave and dress warmly and go to these events,” Brown said. “But we’ll have warming towers for people to cozy up next to. It’s really fun, especially on Saturday, to watch the ice sculptures get carved and then maybe go do something like the hot cocoa tour and then come back and you can see how much progress they’ve made.”

Winter Fest, hosted by InTown Concord and the Hotel Concord, will primarily take place by State House on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets for the hot cocoa tour and a full schedule of events are available at intownconcord.org.

 

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com