A sold-out crowd of 480 people showed up at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell on Dec. 3 for the Flathead County Republican Women’s 30th annual Chocolate Extravaganza, a fundraiser for the group.

Chocolate enthusiasts gathered around more than 15 tables loaded with dessert creations divided into cakes and tortes, pies and pastries, cookies and bars, and candy and confections categories.

Amy Mow, of Whitefish, wife of Glacier National Park superintendent Jeff Mow, who competed in the professional division, took first place in the “cookies and bars taste” category with her “Nut Goodies Bites.”

She also took second place for “cakes and tortes taste” with her “Chocolate Mousse Pizette” and second place for “cookies and bars appearance” for her “Nut Goodie Bites.”

Mow is a professional baker.

She studied classic French pastry technique at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md., graduating in 2002, and most recently completed a distance chocolatier course from Ecole Chocolat in Vancouver.

She has also worked at various pastry kitchens and bakeries, from the Ritz Carlton in Tyson’s Corner, Va. to the Bakery At The Harbor in Seward, Alaska.

“I’ve also taught community classes in baking and chocolate work, and wrote a food column for the local paper in Seward,” she said.

Lately, Mow’s been working as a “freelance baker,” providing desserts, wedding and celebration cakes, and chocolates for caterers and individuals, as well as renting out her chocolate fountain.

“I always like to take part in local competitions, as a way of ‘keeping my chops up,’” she said. “Last summer, I took first place in the professional category at the Whitefish Huckleberry Days Bake-off.”

Mow says her current interest is in gluten-free baking, which provides a particularly unique set of challenges.