Linda Harrington of Ulster Park holds up her favorite bowl at a previous Women’s Studio Workshop’s Chili Bowl Fest at SUNY Ulster. (Photo by Lauren Thomas)
The Women’s Studio Workshop will host its 23rd annual Chili Bowl Fest fundraiser this Saturday, February 29 in the dining hall at the SUNY Ulster campus, 491 Cottekill Road in Stone Ridge. Early bird attendees, who get first crack at the one-of-a-kind, handmade ceramic bowls the chili is served in, pay a $10 admission fee with later arrivals at the event getting in free from 4-7 p.m.
This is a very well-attended event each year, with the number of ever-increasing visitors necessitating the move in recent years to larger quarters at SUNY Ulster. The Chili Bowl Fest fundraiser offers nearly 1,000 handmade ceramic bowls, mugs and tumblers for purchase, each of which includes a heaping serving of homemade chili in meat and vegetarian varieties, donated by local restaurant chefs. (For those who don’t want to eat out of their bowl at the event, paper bowls are available, as are paper bowls of chili at nominal cost for those not buying ceramics.) Live music heightens the camaraderie and raffles are offered.