SOPHIA ROSENBAUM
Aigner Chocolates is serving up something extra sweet this year for Easter.
The chocolate company based in Forest Hills has been making chocolate bunnies of all sizes for decades, but this year, its three-foot-tall, 17-pound milk chocolate bunny named Harvey will satisfy more than a few chocolate cravings.
Customers can buy raffle tickets for $1 to have a chance to win Harvey, which has a retail value of $400. All proceeds for the raffle are going to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer Research, a regional charity that puts more than 80 percent of its money toward research.
The original owners of Aigner Chocolates — John Aigner and Ester Tarp — were both diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It’s very close to our hearts,” said Christopher Aigner, the original owners’ grandson and current vice president. “We thought this would be a fun and festive way to raise funds and awareness for fighting this terrible disease.”
Harvey’s name plays homage to James Stewart’s invisible best friend in the 1950s classic “Harvey,” one of the Aigner family’s favorite films.
Smaller two-foot-tall chocolate bunnies named Easter Ester after Aigner’s grandmother are available in dark, milk and white chocolate. Aigner Chocolates also sells an array of other chocolatey treats including chocolate-covered marshmallow peeps, German papier-mâché eggs and marshmallow eggs.
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