Sabrina Williams, right, and Becky Porter use their booth at Central Maine Chocolate Festival on Saturday to raise awareness and support for their local organization, S.O.S. — or Support Our Seniors — which aims to donate items to people in the community, whether they are homeless, senior citizens, or just lost everything in a fire. The annual event was held at the Fairfield Community Center at 61 Water St. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal

FAIRFIELD — Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Central Maine Chocolate Festival celebrates the love people have for their community.

The annual event — held Saturday at the community center at 61 Water St. — started at least two decades ago and focused just on chocolate, said Kevin Douglass, who organizing the Central Maine Fourth of July Celebration in addition to the chocolate festival.

Now, the vendors of the event Saturday have broadened their offering beyond chocolate, selling items to fill a need in the community — from gluten-free baked goods, to desserts unique to the central Maine area, to simply, raising money for community members.

Vendor Sabrina Williams used her spot at the festival to launch her organization, S.O.S., or Support our Seniors, which aims to donate items to people in the community, whether they are homeless, senior citizens, or just lost everything in a fire.

“My mother was my inspiration,” said Williams, pointing to her mother, Becky Porter, who stood with her at the event. “Because she’s on a pension, she doesn’t qualify for heat assistance, but she still has a mortgage to pay and can’t afford both.”

William’s launched her organization three months ago and used the Central Maine Chocolate Festival to spread awareness of the need in the community, selling baked goods as a way to raise money for wheelchairs, walkers, blankets, among other items. So far, S.O.S. has helped three veterans get adult diapers, a woman some cat litter for her cat and a homeless pair who lost everything in a tent fire in Skowhegan.

She wants to help people get the items they need to survive without feeling ashamed of asking for help.

“It’s just the old-fashioned way, it’s the way I grew up. We don’t ask for help. We feel like we have to take care of ourselves, but now, the younger generation is good about asking for help. The older generation is stubborn,” she said.

Gluten-free products were among the available treats Saturday during the Central Maine Chocolate Festival at the Fairfield Community Center at 61 Water St. Deanna Hyvarinen of White Butterfly Baked Goods says she and her daughter have celiac disease so she began developing gluten-free breads, cakes and cookies. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal

In a different way of helping the community, Deanna Hyvarinen of White Butterfly Baked Goods sold her gluten-free breads, cakes and cookies.

Hyvarinen and her daughter were both diagnosed with celiac disease about a year ago, and started her business around three months ago.

Without a strong background in baking but experience working at restaurants and a kitchen, she learned how to make gluten-free baked goods for her and her daughter to enjoy, as they quickly realized there are not many spots in central Maine to purchase gluten-free baked goods.

“When we had to switch to all celiac-friendly foods in our kitchen, we are in Hope, so there isn’t much around there, or dedicated to gluten-free. I was dedicated to fill the need in the community,” said Hyvarinen, who in three months has a wholesale location at Fresh Off The Farm in Rockport.

A sampling of products can be seen Saturday in the Eat Neon booth during the Central Maine Chocolate Festival at the Fairfield Community Center at 61 Water St. Eat Neon owner Reggie Boudreau says he wants to offer unique sweet treats to the Waterville area, where he has a brick-and-mortar shop location on Temple Street. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal

Reggie Boudreau of Eat Neon also wanted to bring unique sweet treats to the Waterville area, where he has a brick-and-mortar location on Temple Street.

Boudreau explained that “Neon” has roots in the Greek language, meaning “new,” and through that, wanted to bring less traditional baked goods like macaroons and cake pops to central Maine, where he believed it was lacking in the community.

“I have atypical offerings for the area: macaroons, cookie sandwiches, cake pops. I want to have a variety of things other places don’t have,” he said.

As the traditional Central Maine Chocolate Festival shies away from just chocolate, Douglass said the event’s offerings are a perfect way to spread the Valentine’s spirit. He pointed out that most chocolatiers have a location that they can’t afford to leave during this time of year to sell at the event.

“Every booth has to have something chocolate,” he said. “Overtime, the chocolate sellers couldn’t get away from their stores because it’s the busiest time of year for them. But, this is the perfect place for people to get a unique Valentine’s gift from local artisans and supporting the local community.”