The Wood Buffalo Food Bank (WBFB) raised $23,835 from their fourth annual Empty Bowls Festival and follow up bowl sale, nearly reaching their $25,000 goal.
The family-friendly event had attendees purchase locally hand-crafted bowls from the Fort McMurray Potter’s Guild and Color Me Mine Fort McMurray and fill them with samples from six food stations hosted by local eateries.
Anna Noble, WBFB communications and development manager said in a press release that this year’s event, presented by John Wilson’s Hedco Group, was held on Sunday, Aug. 11 at Jubilee Plaza in hopes of having better weather than the last two years.
“This year turned out to be beautiful, and we were so pleased by the turnout.”
Another reason to host the event during the summer was to give people a reason to stay in town and enjoy local events.
A total of 743 people attended, with 281 people purchasing their tickets a month leading up to the event to skip the payment at the door.
“We heard the ask from the community for online ticket sales, and we were at the place with the event where we could try that out” says Dan Edwards, Executive Director. “With this being the fourth year hosting the Empty Bowls Festival, each time we are learning what we need to tweak and improve on. It’s a constant learning process and we love hearing the feedback from the community so we can continue to grow this event each year.”
The event’s follow up bowl sale on Sept. 14, brought in an additional $1,140.
The WBFB will be announcing another bowl sale in the coming months.
