Vermonters all around are missing the sounds of another sweet and soulful Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, but for local chocolatiers Lake Champlain Chocolates, it’s a time for celebration.

LCC’s BOOM! BAM! Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Experience, which was created to raise funds for the FlynnArts “LCC Youth in Jazz Scholarship,” was an incredible success in its inaugural year. With an irresistible blend of bourbon soaked pecans, sweet milk chocolate, and a kick of cayenne pepper, this limited edition chocolate bar quickly surpassed the sales goal of 1,000 units.

“For 15 years we have been a supporter of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival; the BOOM! BAM! bar was the perfect way for us to celebrate that partnership and give back to the community. It also gave us the chance to have some fun and engage festival goers throughout the 10 days,” stated Catherine Wisloski, Director of Marketing at LCC. “We can proudly say that with the help of jazz goers and the local community, we sold more than 1,300 chocolate bars, generating a scholarship fund of $3484!”

Those who perused the Church Street Marketplace the week of the Festival were sure to catch some fun and lighthearted entertainment from the gourmet chocolate makers. Featured entertainment included a crowd-drawing BOOM! BAM! beanbag toss and chocolate giveaway, as well as 150 free scoops of LCC ice cream – 150 scoops for the 150 hours of free music during the Festival.

“How lucky the Flynn is to have an extremely generous partner in Lake Champlain Chocolates on so many levels,” says John Killacky, executive director of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. “What a fun and novel idea for them to create a special limited edition candy bar to celebrate Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and to have proceeds benefit the young people in our community to learn and perform American’s indigenous art form.”

Lake Champlain Chocolates will present the check to the Flynn at the Summertime Jazz Camp Concert on July 27 at 4 p.m., which will go toward creating more opportunities in performing arts education for young musicians in Vermont. The company plans to annualize the campaign and continue to build the scholarship fund surrounding the Burlington Discover Jazz Festivals.