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A Day In The Fantasy Section

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By LENORA LAKE

Tribune correspondent

Published: June 7, 2008

HUNTER'S GREEN - It was a chocolate lover's day in the sun.

It was melted, sticky, sweet, bitter, dark, rich and creamy. Some was in wrappers, some in broken pieces, some in the form of lollipops.

And about 350 guests, ranging from tots to seniors, turned out for the treats when the New Tampa Regional Library hosted the second Chocolate Extravaganza on June 1.

The event was sponsored by the Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library, a 60-member support organization for the public library at 10001 Cross Creek Blvd.

It was designed to "thank the patrons of the library," said Friends President Gary Gunter. "A lot of people come to the library, but this brings in additional people."

The community room featured a serving line with chocolate candies, cookies and syrup. The line culminated in a flowing fountain of melted chocolate in which guests could dip strawberries, banana slices, pineapple chunks, marshmallows and pretzels.

Donna Sinudom, who owns Circles New Tampa Bistro with her husband, Louie, had to keep stirring the chocolate in the fountain "as it gets thick down in the bottom." She said they melted almost 25 pounds of chocolate to keep the fountain flowing.

Her husband kept the plates of fruit filled, serving more than 20 pounds of strawberries.

The event also included Buco the Clown, also known as James Mutascio of New Tampa, blowing bubbles to entertain the children. Scott Simon, who teaches library and information science at the University of South Florida, played the guitar.

Guests could guess the number of green and orange m&m's in a glass jar, which held 2,433 of the chocolate candies, according to contest sponsor Central Bank.

Anjalee Parbhoo, 2, told her mother, Sejal, she thought there were eight in the jar.

"She said she counted them," Sejal Parbhoo of Tampa Palms said.

Two other rooms, one of them the site of the Friends' used book store, also offered guests samples of popular brands of candy.

Amy Scheld of Arbor Greene, who attended with her daughter Michaela, 14, said: "I love the library. What other library would have a chocolate festival?"

Tribune correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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