Looking for something to fill your desire of an endless sugar rush? Look no further, Maplewood’s annual Sweet Tooth Tour is the place to be.

This event is held once a year in late January to help local shops pick up business in the slower months. One buys a ticket from the city of Maplewood for $21 and then can go to 15 different locations in downtown Maplewood to receive a sugary treat at each stop.

This year the ticket price did increase, but it also included a new stop on the tour — Boardwalk Waffles — which equaled out for the cost difference. There is also always an amazing turnout for the event; Manchester boulevard becomes crawling with people in the local shops, even the ones that are not on the tour destination.

Some Maplewood favorites are included in the list that are well known throughout St. Louis such as Strange Donuts, Schlafly Bottleworks and Kakao Chocolate. Others are hidden gems waiting to be discovered like Living Room, Larder and Cupboard, and Great Harvest Bread Co.

My favorite stop in the tour personally was Foundation Grounds. This year they offered a peanut butter square with half of it dipped in chocolate that was also vegan. It was perfectly fulfilling for my love of the two key ingredients, but I could see it causing issues for people who have a nut allergy. They did not seem to be offering any other options for those who do have these issues.

The underdog this year had to be Pie Oh My. They offered five different slices of pie to choose from for their sample and it is some of the best tasting pie you can get in town. They offer more selections and choices on the tour and appeal to the consumer while keeping in mind allergies, unlike many of the other stops on the route that have no selections.

The flop of the tour this year was Traveling Tea. I love a good tea, even over coffee. This year, though, instead of just offering different tea selections they tried to be creative and recreate Butterbeer from Harry Potter. The idea was smart but mixing tea, cream soda, and milk was not the best idea. It was the most underwhelming treat that was offered and the only one I could not bring myself to finish.

The overall fan favorite of the tour seemed to be Strange Donuts, with their offer of either the Rainbow Pony, which is a regular donut with rainbow sprinkles, or their Chocolate Delight donut which offered a Nutella and chocolate icing. The two options seemed to satisfy the crowds, and they got a full-sized donut compared to previous years where they only gave out the gooey butter cake cookie at half the size of their normal donuts.

This event is the perfect supporter of local businesses and helps generate revenue for the city for them to complete more projects to help better Maplewood. Maplewood holds more events like this for the upcoming year including a coffee crawl and a beer crawl across the city of Maplewood if you are interested in joining in on the festivities.

What is great about this one is how it is a more family-friendly event that everyone of all ages can enjoy, whereas a lot of Maplewood’s other events are not as family friendly or as walkable as the Sweet Tooth Tour. While on this tour, you see everyone from toddlers to grandparents walking up and down Manchester enjoy cupcakes, brownies and more.

Overall, this event was a success and generates a fun atmosphere for everyone to enjoy on a Saturday in January, with that extra sweet to keep you going through the cold months.