Glendale's Hot Topics - Story Ideas for the Week of Jan. 30, 2012

- A haven for chocolate lovers. Chocolate purveyors from Arizona and around the nation gather in Glendale for this award-winning festival, which celebrates not only chocolate, but romance and the arts as well. Chocolate confections will include everything from chocolate-covered bacon to chocolate ganache crepes. But the event has more to offer than delectable sweets; you’ll find an art competition, a lecture by the State Historian, appearance by a romance novel cover model, a presentation on the Science of Chocolate, and so much more! Info: www.glendaleaz.com/events or call 623-930-2299.

- Don’t Pass on the Super Chocolate Bowl this week in Glendale.  Feb. 5 is Super Bowl Sunday, and with Super Bowl 2015 preparations underway, coupled with an exciting rematch of the Giants and Patriots who played in Glendale four years ago at the Super Bowl, the Glendale CVB is encouraging fans to get into the spirit with a contest at the Glendale Visitor Center. Residents and visitors may take part in the “Super Chocolate Bowl,” which involves guessing how many Cerreta chocolate footballs are in the bowl during the event. The winner will receive a Cerreta’s chocolate basket and a pair of tickets to a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. The Glendale Visitor Center is located at 5800 W. Glenn Drive, and participants must be 18 years or older. The contest is now through Super Bowl day Sunday Feb. 5.

- Check out Glendale’s newest Pop up Gallery. Downtown Glendale will burst into a botanical art bloom as the West Valley Arts Council holds its first Botanical Drawing & Illustration Exhibit from Feb. 3 through March 6 at the Gaslight Inn, located at 5747 W. Glendale Ave. The exhibit will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week from noon to 8 p.m. Patrons will see how local artists have used their talents to portray plants of all kinds including shrubs, trees, grasses and orchids, as well as flowers, leaves, fruit, seeds and root systems.  Artists have used materials such as watercolor, pastel, oil, colored pencil, pencil work and more. The styles vary from scientific illustration to decorative work. For more information, visit www.glendaleaz.com/glendalecenterline.