Students began lining up more than an hour before Chocolate Fest began in anticipation of limited-edition hoodies, sweaters and student-made treats. This 23rd annual festival, hosted by the Student Programming Board on Feb. 13 at Coates Esplanade, had a new theme: “Sweet Revenge.”

SPB named two winners out of the 63 organizations who participated: Cat Alliance Trinity (CAT) for “Best Chocolate Treat,” and the Trinity University Ballet Folklórico (TUBF) for the “Student Choice Award.” CAT served four different sheet cakes, named after each station and inspired by one of their feline residents. TUBF served chocolate cold brew with strawberry cold foam and syrup.

Audrey Pettigrew, sophomore theatre and business double-major, went to the festival on her break to get her boss some chocolate. Pettigrew said that the best chocolate came from the Trinity University Players Society’s table, which served chocolate-covered strawberries, gluten-free vegan protein pie and flourless chocolate cake with strawberries and heartbreakers, a hollow chocolate heart meant to be broken to get to a treat inside.

Other students weren’t as certain about their favorite sweet treat, such as Anna Rasmussen, first-year neuroscience major. “I can’t compare, they’re all awesome,” Rasmussen said.

Students also turned out to represent their organizations. One of those students was Nicholas Chen, senior international studies major, who tabled with the Asian American Pacific Islander Council to hand out strawberry matcha brownies.

“Most people are wanting to try out a variety of dishes, but we definitely had a few people who are a little bit less adventurous, but that’s a-OK,” Chen said when discussing the number of students stopping at his organization’s booth.

The first Chocolate Fest took place back in 2003, and was originally a fundraiser for the San Antonio Foodbank. In 2010, the Student Programming Board began sponsoring the event, which it continues to do to this day.