The Airdrie Food Bank (AFB) hosts its 12th annual Empty Bowls Arts Festival Sept. 22, providing residents with a chance to enjoy a hot bowl of soup from a local restaurant and loads of entertainment. “We’ll have lots of stuff for the kids – face painting, henna, a balloon artist, bouncy house – and soups from lots of different restaurants in Airdrie that donate the soup for the community,” said Christine Taylor, the AFB’s events, marketing and communications manager. Approximately 20 restaurants donate soup for the event, and residents can enjoy their favourite by providing a donation to the food bank. Hand-crafted and painted ceramic bowls will also be for sale at the festival again this year, priced at $20 each. The traditional pottery bowls are made by Bruce Nyeste of Mud Sweat and Tears. The bowls were painted at Colour Me Mine in August by various community members – including well-known residents such as Mayor Peter Brown and City of Airdrie Coun. Tina Petrow, who showed off their artistic sides. Local artists, including Veronica Funk, have also painted a number of larger bowls, according to Taylor, which will be put up for auction at the event. Empty Bowls is one of the AFB’s two biggest annual community events – the other is the Shamrock Shimmy, held in February. Unlike the Shimmy, Empty Bowls isn’t about raising money for the organization, according to Taylor. “It’s really a thank you to our community for all that they’ve done for us. It’s a free event and the donations do help us a little bit, too,” she said. “It’s also a way for us to show off some of the services we have to offer.” Approximately 1,500 people attended Empty Bowls in 2017, she added. This year’s musical lineup includes Al Lukiw, Steve Jevne Jr. and his band As High As We Go and the East of Main Players. Children’s entertainer, Gustavo the Impossibilist, is sure to delight kids of all ages, according to Taylor. Tours of the AFB will be provided during the festival for anyone wanting to see the inner workings, she added. Empty Bowls is a world-wide initiative that began in 1990 in Michigan, according to Wikipedia. Art teacher John Hartom organized a charitable event to give artists and art students a way to give back to their communities by creating ceramic bowls and holding a fundraising event at which those bowls were filled with soup. The Airdrie Food Bank Empty Bowls Arts Festival runs Sept. 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the AFB, rain or shine. More information is available at airdriefoodbank.com
