The DMV Chocolate and Coffee Festival is taking place this weekend in Chantilly, Virginia, giving a platform for 200 small businesses to show off what they have to offer to thousands of people.
But this year’s chocolatey festival is bittersweet.
It’s the last time the event will be held at the Dulles Expo Center, which is closing next month to make way for a new IKEA store.
“We use over 100,000 square feet of space there, and that’s how we’re able to house over 200 local small business owners all in the building at the same time, and over 12,000 attendees to sip, sample and shop from all of them,” said John Hill, a co-founder of the festival.
Hill co-founded DMV Chocolate and Coffee Festival with his wife in 2022. He said the pair initially picked the Dulles Expo Center for its name-recognition in the area and massive event space — this year’s festival will be the largest one yet.
“We want to bring out all these local business owners so that the local community can come out and support them, meet them face to face, family to family,” he said.
Searching for a new home
The Dulles Expo Center has 138,845 total square feet and is located right off Route 28 in Fairfax County. It’s long been a hub for events.
There are currently few venues of its type and size in Northern Virginia.
“I know growing up, my parents would take me there for various festivals, like the boat show back when they used to also have the other building, which is now a Walmart,” Hill said. “It’s been a part of the community for over 25 years. I grew up with it as a kid, and now my wife and I run a festival there.”
Hill is among dozens of festival organizers who are looking for alternative spaces to host future events.
“I know just from our one show, the economic impact in a single weekend is pretty significant,” Hill said. “So when you take that and combine it with all the other events that happen in the expo center every single weekend, it’s definitely a loss to the local business community.”
The Washington Business Journal reported two vacant big-box stores elsewhere in Northern Virginia have emerged as possible replacements for the Dulles Expo Center.
“We’re really hopeful that somebody comes in and fills the gap,” Hill said.
Hill said he’s optimistic about those potential new options and hopes to find a way to stay in Virginia.
“We love the community here,” Hill said. “We’re from here. We hope to continue growing here in the future.”
Dulles Expo Center provides space for small businesses to grow
This weekend’s festival connects the community with coffee farmers, local coffee roasters, chocolate makers and artisans. There will also be educational stations, including one about how professionals taste and judge coffee.
“It’s not often where you can sample from over 40 specialty coffee roasters and find your favorite and learn so much right on the spot, and same with the chocolate makers,” Hill said.
Past festivals have acted as a stepping stone for vendors to grow their businesses.
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“A lot of our vendors have come from farmers markets to our festival, and that’s kind of their next step of growth,” Hill said. “We’ve seen many … go from being vendors at our festival and other events at the expo center to now having their own storefronts.”
Some of those businesses that have grown and opened their own storefronts include Neighbors Barista and Hypergoat Coffee Roasters.
The DMV Chocolate and Coffee Festival is one of many events hosted at the expo center that prop up small businesses. The Capital Art and Craft Festival holds three shows a year at the Dulles Expo Center.
“We have more than 300 artists from throughout the country who exhibit and sell at our shows,” said Judy Spargo, the art festival’s director, in a statement to WTOP. “These are independent business people who make their living creating their art. Our events at Dulles Expo Center bring these artists to DMV buyers but, more importantly, the thousands of customers who attend the shows are keeping these craft artisans in business.”
Hill is adamant that having an expo center in the Northern Virginia region boosts small businesses and helps customers learn about what’s out there.
“In person, experiences and events are not going away,” Hill said. “They’re only becoming more important as the world goes more and more online.”
WTOP has reached out to the Dulles Expo Center for comment.