Bowls, Beans, and Community
Tickets are on sale for the annual Chili Bowl fundraiser at the Center
Sonoma, California. Tickets are on sale now for the spiciest event of the year, Sonoma Community Center’s annual Chili Bowl Fundraiser. Saturday, February 28, the event features two lunches at 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m., and a dinner seating with a cocktail/mocktail hour beginning at 5:00 p.m. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
Every February, this beloved event brings the Valley together to celebrate community, food, and clay. Last year’s Chili Bowl welcomed nearly 700 guests, setting a new record for the Center. Serving a crowd of this size requires just under 100 gallons of handmade chili, generously donated by local chefs and restaurants, making the event a true collaboration of creativity and community spirit.
Lead Banquet Chef for the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Aaron Brumley, said, “I always look forward to the Chili Bowl as it combines two of my cherished interests: large quantities of chili and community service. These small-town events are what keep our little corner of the world smiling.” He divulged that this year’s chili will be called “Tasmanian Chili.” To find out what that may be, you’ll need to have a ticket for the event.
By the time the doors open for the first lunch seating, the Center’s ceramics team, studio members, and volunteer ceramists will have handmade in-house nearly 1,000 bowls, not to mention several hundred cups, and countless vases and platters for the tables. This is accomplished by using over one metric ton of clay, more than forty gallons of hand-mixed glazes, and sixty-plus kiln loads to create all of the ceramics.
Lunch seatings at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. begin with guests selecting a handmade bowl to take home as a keepsake. From there, diners are welcomed into the Rotary Community Kitchen, where volunteers will serve a variety of chili selections, cornbread, and all the classic fixings. A vegan chili option will be available at each seating.
Dinner tickets include everything offered at lunch, plus a cocktail/mocktail hour and the selection of a handmade cup to keep. The evening will include entertainment from a live band in Andrews Hall.
To improve flow and enhance the guest experience at this year’s Chili Bowl, a check-in tent will be set up behind the Center. There, ticket holders can enjoy beverages available for purchase and browse the silent auction while they wait. Guests will be invited into the bowl room to select their ceramics in the order they arrive, eliminating the need to stand in line.
Aside from Brumley’s Tazmanian Chili, a few choices already in the line-up are a Roasted Garlic Chicken and White Bean Chili from Epicurean Connection, Vegan Chickpea and Vegetable Chili from Spread Kitchen, and a Black Bean Chili from Sunflower Caffé. If you are a local chef or restaurant in Sonoma who would like to donate chili, please contact [email protected].
This event is made possible by over thirty community sponsors and 200+ volunteers. For those interested in Chili Bowl sponsorship, please contact Mary Catherine Cutcliffe at 707-931-4289 or [email protected]. To volunteer, sign up on SonomaCommunityCenter.org.
The Sonoma Community Center is located at 276 East Napa Street in Sonoma. Tickets for the 14th Annual Chili Bowl may be purchased at SonomaCommunityCenter.org or by calling the Center at 707-938-4626. Lunch tickets (11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.) are $38 per person, and dinner tickets (5:00 p.m.) are $75. This event typically sells out, so please purchase tickets in advance.
About Sonoma Community Center
The Sonoma Community Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1953 to serve the communities of Sonoma Valley with the mission of cultivating a vibrant community through extraordinary creative, cultural, and learning experiences. Originally built as the Sonoma Grammar School, which opened in 1916, the Center is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Community – Innovation – Creativity – Inclusion – Leadership
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Additional information can be found after the photos.
Media Contact:
Meg Billingham, Director of Ceramics
Sonoma Community Center
707-938-4626
[email protected]
