Chocolate Rolls

Chocolate Roll Fame

Famous Searcy County chocolate rolls may be purchased at the Red River Cafe in Leslie, the Kenda Drive-In movie theater in Marshall, Fergusons Country Store & Restaurant of St. Joe, and Wade's Convenience Store of Leslie.

In 2012, Brenda Smyth founded the annual Chocolate Roll Festival in Marshall to honor the many great bakers of chocolate rolls in Searcy County and it was also a means of making money for the MHS Art Club. Each year in March, the festival crowns the “World Champion Chocolate Roll Maker!"

How did chocolate rolls originate? According to Georgia Mae Brown Long, she believed that her mother had learned to make them from the home demonstration club that was prevalent back in the 1930’s near the depression time.

Shorty Weaver was raised in the Morning Star community where, as a child, she watched her mom make chocolate rolls. She said this was when she learned to bake chocolate rolls although she didn't start making them full time until her kids were grown. There have been times that she and members of her church have made between 300-400 chocolate rolls at one time. Her most famous story was that one-time Bob Roten bought some of her chocolate rolls to share with one of his customers. When Bob got them, he told her they were going to Hank Williams, Jr. She was stunned and excited at the same time. If you want to try some of her chocolate rolls, her son, Todd, sells them at the Kenda Drive-In in Marshall.

For generations people in Searcy County have been baking and enjoying a dessert that few folks outside these parts have ever heard of. Namely, chocolate rolls! Searcy County’s glory days with strawberries have faded into the pages of history and the stories of its older citizens, but the chocolate roll remains. Can anyone doubt that Searcy County is the Home of the Chocolate Roll™ and also the Chocolate Roll Capital of the World™? In 2012 the Greater Searcy County Chamber of Commerce declared Searcy County the Chocolate Roll Capital of the World™! That declaration was just one part of the Chamber’s exciting Chocolate Roll Capital of the World™ initiative!

In 2014 the chamber of merce toured Arkansas Parks & Tourism photographer Kirk Jordan on a chocolate roll photo shoot of Searcy County for USA TODAY Travel who featured Searcy County's chocolate rolls in an online photo gallery of America's food capitals! One food capital in each state was chosen and for Arkansas they chose us, the Chocolate Roll Capital of the World! https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/food-and-wine/2017/11/29/americas-food-capitals/902950001/

Our unique, cultural dessert, the chocolate roll, keeps getting more and more famous! A curious Tennessee resident called the chamber of commerce asking about chocolate rolls after a puzzle about Arkansas Chocolate Rolls appeared in The Jackson Sun newspaper! Whoever created the puzzle knew what they were talking about!

This 8 December 2020 story connecting Leslie and Marshall generated media attention, and garnered more than 18,000 Facebook views, more than 430 “Likes,” and 170 Shares! "Operation Chocolate Roll" involved picking up a special cargo of 500 chocolate rolls by pilots Allen Williams and his son Cooper Williams as they flew into the Searcy County Marshall AR Airport 4A5 from Jonesboro. Chocolate rolls are a cultural dessert in Searcy County that are similar to a small, baked chocolate pie. Allen is the Region Market President of First Community Bank. During automobile trips through Searcy County in the past, he noticed the "Chocolate Roll Capital of the World" welcome sign. One day he stopped into the Shell station in Leslie and discovered they had chocolate rolls. He bought several. When thinking of a unique homemade gift to give out, he thought of chocolate rolls. Williams instructed Kembralyn Redman, AVP Business Development Officer, to contact the chamber of commerce in Searcy County to find chocolate rolls. Chamber Director Darryl Treat answered the phone and gave the Jonesboro bank three chamber member chocolate roll bakers. Redman chose Sharon Lewis of the Leslie Shell and placed an order for 985 chocolate rolls! The order was later rounded up to 1,000! The first shipment of 500 was picked up Tuesday by aircraft. This is the world's largest known airborne shipment of chocolate rolls in history! William's son Cooper was at the controls for the historic flight. Cooper is a senior at Nettleton High School and has earned a scholarship to go to Henderson State University where he will study aviation. Chamber Director Treat picked up the first load of Searcy County chocolate rolls at Leslie Shell-Misty's Leslie, Arkansas and delivered hem to the airport to meet the arriving aircraft. Joining him there were Airport Board Members Shirl Williams, Don Campbell, and Joe Wilson, Dale Estes of the Marshall Mountain Wave, Videographer Bob King of Flintrock Video Productions, chamber officer Bronwyn King, and photographer Dana Treat. The chocolate rolls will be specially packaged with chocolate roll information and history provided to them by Chamber Director Treat. Sharon Lewis says she bakes 16 per tray. It takes one hour per tray to get the finished product. She baked all day Monday and finished up Tuesday morning. Lewis learned how to make chocolate rolls from her mother Shirley Diemer who baked at the Downtowner Cafe in Marshall. Sharon is a five-time champion at the annual Chocolate Roll Festival at Marshall High School! She has already started preparations for the next batch of chocolate rolls to be transported back to Jonesboro next week.”

Reader's Digest July/August 2021 recognized our cultural dessert, the chocolate roll, as the Best Dessert in Arkansas! Our chamber coined the Searcy County title, “Chocolate Roll Capital of the World!”

Searcy County Chocolate Rolls win more notoriety! The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette / ArkansasOnline.com named our chocolate rolls one of 2022's best recipes! The recipe used was from Shirley Patterson of Marshall! 26 Dec 22

The chamber was contacted by First Community Bank of Jonesboro about getting another large shipment of chocolate rolls like they did in 2020. Darryl Treat helped coordinate and picked up the chocolate rolls from the Red River Café and delivered them to the Searcy County “Buffalo River” Airport-4A5, Marshall AR. A new World Record chocolate roll shipment by aircraft was set on Dec 4^th, 2023 as Cooper and Allen Williams picked up 1,500 chocolate rolls from the airport in Marshall, as part of Operation Chocolate Roll II, and flew them to Jonesboro for delivery to First Community Bank as Christmas treats! The 361-pound shipment of chocolate rolls was baked by Sharon Lewis of the fabulous Red River Cafe of Leslie!

A bitter, sweet story of Searcy County chocolate rolls after the passing of the Queen of Chocolate Rolls, Sharon Lewis of the Red River Cafe. Thank you to Kat Robinson for the wonderful article in Arkansas Living in 2024! https://arkansaslivingmagazine.com/story/ready-to-roll/ The World Champion Chocolate Roll Baker for 2024 was Noel Lewis, Sharon's husband, in memory of Sharon Lewis and Shirley Diemer, sponsored by the Red River Cafe of Leslie!

“World Champion Chocolate Roll Maker”

Annual Marshall High School Art Club Chocolate Roll Festival

Listed in order 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

2012 Regina Ragland, Shorty Weaver, Deanna Hubbard

2013 Sharon Lewis, Shirley Patterson, Regina Ragland

2014 Sharon Lewis, Teresa Jackson, Regina Ragland

2015 Sharon Lewis, Shorty Weaver, Teresa Jackson

2016 (Kala Padilla, SarahRooney, Keely Grice), Teresa Jackson, Shorty Weaver

2017 Sharon Lewis, Regina Ragland, Diane Brightwell

2018 Teresa Jackson, Brianna Ragland, Sharon Lewis

2019 Sharon Lewis, Teresa Jackson, Teresa Heard

2020 Cancelled Covid 19