Oakdale’s annual Chocolate Festival is scheduled for the weekend of May 21 and 22, with this year being the 30th annual festival. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, located in the heart of the downtown area, centered around South Yosemite Avenue.

Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and kids who are 12 and under are free. Presale tickets are also available on the oakdalechamber.com/events website for $4 and you can get a dollar off tickets at the gate if you bring a canned good item.

Oakdale Chamber CEO Trisha Brown stated, “There are a lot of returning vendors from prior years but this year has a lot more arts and crafts vendors wanting to sell their personal work.”

Along with the arts and crafts vendors there are a diverse amount of food vendors and chocolate vendors with no deadline yet for vendor applications, keeping the opportunity open for any vendor to apply.

Applications for arts and crafts, chocolate vendors, food vendors, specialty merchandise services, entertainment, and mascot services can be found on the Oakdale Chamber website under the events tab, and then click on Chocolate Festival.

The festival last year was pushed back to September due to COVID restrictions, but this year will be back in its traditional May time frame.

“Planning this year is going really well, better than usual,” Brown explained. “We are really looking forward to rebuilding the community.”

Alongside the weekend’s festivities they will also be adding a corn hole tournament for both days on the festival grounds, one day being a single entry, and the other a team entry; more information for the tournaments will be posted on the chamber website closer to the event date. There will also be the traditional Saturday morning runs and the classic car/bike show each day.

For additional information, contact the chamber at 209-847-2244 or visit their website.