Santa Barbara County annual Empty Bowls events adopt drive-through, outdoor formats
Oct. 20—Soup's on for the Foodbank's annual Empty Bowls fundraisers in Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Barbara, with some changes to the format due to the ongoing pandemic.
Santa Maria Empty Bowls will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Santa Maria Fairpark, where patrons will line up at a designated soup drive-through to receive a to-go container filled with soup and a handmade bowl — a tradition that will stay, according to a Foodbank spokeswoman.
Tickets to the event are available for $25 in half-hour time slots, and can be purchased at FoodbankSBC.org/EBSM2021. Large groups also can purchase Party Packs, which include 10 tickets and a delivery of soup and bowls to an address of your choice.
Santa Barbara's Empty Bowl event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 5 outdoors at the Santa Barbara Foodbank warehouse to promote social distancing, the spokeswoman said.
Although attendees will not eat at the event, they can pick up warm soup in to-go containers, choose their handmade bowls and shop at a nearby outdoor marketplace.
Tickets will be available in half-hour time slots, with four different entry times. There will also be raffle items at the event, as well as coupon books for local restaurants. Tickets will go on sale this month, and will be announced.
The Lompoc Empty Bowls event is scheduled for March 2022, with further details to come.
Proceeds from all Empty Bowls events go to support those facing food insecurity in Santa Barbara County.
