When the owners of the Dulles Expo Center announced last fall that the building would be turned into an IKEA, the husband-and-wife team that hosts the DMV Chocolate & Coffee Festival had to move quickly to find a new venue for 2026 — one capable of hosting over 200 small businesses and artisans, and thousands of visitors.
Now, co-founders John and Lindsay Hill have not only found a new venue to keep the festival running in its fifth anniversary year. They’re also expanding to a second location.
A Virginia festival will be held on Nov. 14-15 in Sterling at the DTC Expo, a 100,000-square-foot, two-level events venue being developed in Dulles Town Center’s former Lord & Taylor space. The festival’s “Maryland edition” will be held from Nov. 7-8 at the Adventist HealthCare Fieldhouse in Boyds.
“Keeping the festival alive was our top priority, so we had to think creatively about what came next,” John Hill said in a press release. “Finding more than 100,000 square feet of indoor event space to fit all of our participating businesses is not an easy task, but we were determined to make it work.”
Construction on DTC Expo has already started, and is expected to be completed by the end of October, the Hills said.
At the November events, attendees can expect to sip different kinds of coffee from around the world, browse vendors with products such as teas and candles, and taste hand-crafted chocolates. Tickets are already on sale for the festival online.
The festival will also continue a tradition it began at the Chantilly location of partnering with WGTS 91.9, a nonprofit Christian radio station, to organize a food drive, with donations distributed through Food for Others, a nonprofit food bank.
Other events that were formerly hosted at the Dulles Expo Center have signed contracts with the DTC Expo, the owner has previously said. Among them is the Capital Arts and Crafts Festival, which has a winter festival planned for December 11-13.
Some events moved to Manassas Mall in 2026, such as the DC Big Flea Market, the Big Lick Comic Con-NOVA, and the Super Pet Expo. Still others, such as Greenberg’s Train & Toy Show, will be held in Fredericksburg this year. Some have not announced a new location.
Meanwhile, work has been progressing at the new IKEA in Chantilly, which was expected to open this spring.
While a spokesperson for the company declined to share the opening date at this time, a sign and posters with information about items on sale have been placed on the outside, and fully staged displays are visible through the building’s windows.
