The annual Empty Bowls fundraiser is this weekend. (Courtesy/ Willamette Art Center)
Anyone who buys pottery at the Oregon State Fairgrounds on Saturday will be helping put food on the table for the hungry.
The Willamette Art Center will hold its annual Empty Bowls fundraising sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cascade Hall at the fairgrounds, a press release said.
Sales from locally made handcrafted pottery, wood-turned bowls and wood-carved crafts will go to the Marion Polk Food Share.
“The sale is a great opportunity to help feed those in need and get an early start on holiday shopping. Some incredible potters with decades of experience have donated their work, and it’s really exciting to see all the beautiful pottery coming in for the sale. The donations this year are spectacular,” Kevin Herzberg, executive director of the Willamette Art Center, said in the press release.
Artisans from the center’s pottery studio, Willamette Valley Woodturners and Capital Woodcarvers made handcrafts for the sale. Saturday’s event will include the empty bowls it’s named after, ceramic planters, dishes, vases, mugs, cups and carved spoons.
The sale was moved to Cascade Hall to increase space for social distancing. “Covid protocols and sanitation will be in place, and shoppers should come prepared with masks,” the news release said.
Since the sale started in 2007, it has raised around $20,000 to help feed the hungry in Marion and Polk counties, with every dollar providing three meals.
“This wonderful event provides thousands of meals every year for our neighbors in need, and exemplifies the Food Share’s mission of bringing people together to end hunger and its root causes,” Rick Gaupo, president and CEO of Marion Polk Food Share, said in the news release.
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
