What is it about the Foodbank’s annual Empty Bowls event that attracts ever so many people?
About 700 showed up for lunch on Oct. 28, 11:30-ish, at the Fairpark. This is amazing! Every year, the crowd gets larger.
Those at the head of the line got first crack at choosing a bowl from the colorful lineup of about a thousand pottery bowls donated by local artisans and Allan Hancock College ceramics students. A $20 ticket bought you a handmade bowl of your choice and lunch—gourmet soups from leading local restaurants and French bread from Albertson’s at McCoy.
There was also the opportunity to hobnob with the likes of Councilwoman Alice Patino, Nancy Johnson, Judge Jed Beebe, Allan Hancock’s Eileen Hervey, Sunny Country’s Jay Turner, Santa Maria Times publisher Cynthia Schur, Henry Grennan, and Ron and Lou Glenn.
The soups were simply delish. Karen Ransome was hooked on Marian Medical Center’s chicken tortilla, while husband John had high praise for Chef Rick’s garlic concoction, the Radisson’s artichoke bisque, and Ambrosia’s clam chowder. (John doesn’t miss much!)
I made several trips to the Dino’s Deli station for minestrone and swooned over the Radisson’s tomato bisque.
Various colored balloons festooned the cavernous Fairpark hall. Centerpieces were empty soup cans filled with flowers. Too cute!
Last year, there were so many Empty Bowls attendees that they ran out of soup. This year, they ran out of spoons. Director of Development Kerry Aller Main advised the no-spooners to “slurp your soup” until reinforcements arrived.
KCOY deployed members of its news teams to serve lunch. The morning male news anchor Randall White stood alongside colleagues Jim Byrne, Adam Recusin, and Patty Piburn.
I was thrilled to get one of Bill Shinn’s bowls to take home. The very busy, peripatetic potter and his potter wife Jean donated 40 bowls as well as a large punch bowl for the silent auction.
The Empty Bowls event in Santa Barbara caters to about 1,000 attendees in three sittings. Main told me the North County Foodbank staff is contemplating more than one sitting in the future, but I beg you North County Foodbank folks: Don’t do it! One sitting is soooo much fun. All those people, all that energy, all that excitement. We Santa Marians love seeing each other all at once. Honestly, we do.
Pastor Carl Neilsen of Bethel Lutheran and eight of his church members served as volunteers. The personable pastor reminded several of us, in conversation, of the abundance that so many of us enjoy.
Kathy Boysen donated a tall birdhouse to the silent auction collection. Birdhouses are enjoying a renaissance and seem to be garnering lots of bids. This one certainly did. Patty Gourley’s tres interesting Day of the Dead hand-painted china was also in demand and the subject of last-minute bidding.
Getting back to the opening question: What is it about the Empty Bowls event that is so appealing? There has to be a warm, fuzzy feeling among the lunch-goers and the perception that they are doing something for those in need. Whatever it is, this was and has been a joyous event that we look forward to each year. And for sure, next year there will probably be even more of us “slurping soup.”
If you want to hobnob with Helen, you may contact her at helenthom232@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Nov 5-12, 2009.