Volunteers Gearing Up for the Souper Bowl

The Souper Bowl has grown to become one of the most popular events on Marco Island. This is the ninth year for the Souper Bowl, a family event that’s sponsored by Leadership Marco and the Marco Island Chamber of Commerce. The event will be held at Mackle Park on Saturday, February 11, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

"From a personal standpoint, the Souper Bowl is one of the most exciting events on the island because of the participation from all different groups,” said Dianna Dohm, the chamber’s Executive Director. “We have the kids from the schools painting the bowls. Then we have the businesses that are providing the soup. Then we have the community who comes out and supports the kids and the businesses. It’s a great cause for scholarships for our island students. For me, personally, this is just one of the best events out there.”

Donna Niemczyk, Programs and Events Manager for the chamber, organizes the Souper Bowl. The popular event has been on hold the past two years because of COVID.

“We haven’t had it for the past two years,” Niemczyk said. "It’s been sorely missed.”

Niemczyk knows the program’s history.

"This started nine years ago,” Niemczyk said, "when Desiree Buhelos, a chamber member, went to one of these events in Naples and was very impressed. She came and presented it to us and said, ‘can we do this?’"

The event is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and graduates of the Leadership Marco program participate and help run things. All participants volunteer their skills to the event.

"We get empty bowls,” Niemczyk said, "get them into the schools. The kids paint them, and we get them back. Then they have to fire between 700 and 800 bowls.”

The firing of the bowls is a big undertaking. The workload is shared.

“I have some individuals who have kilns,” Niemczyk said. "Kevin Smith at Lely always burns his. Then we take the rest to Claymore Ceramics in Naples."

A large group of attendees will meet at Mackle Park to pick out their bowls and start taste testing the soups, which are dished up by 10 different local restaurants.

"At the event we line all the bowls up in a room at Mackle Park,” Niemczyk said. "People line up and go through and weave around until they find a bowl that they want. They go to the airnasium where we have 10 restaurants who have donated 15 gallons of soup. So you take your little bowl and you go around and taste all the soups.”

Participating restaurants are Bisto Soleil, CJ’s on the Bay, Deep Lagoon, Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort and Spa, Mango’s Dockside Bistro, JW Marriott, Pinchers, The Boulevard Restaurant, Italian Deli and Market and The Speakeasy.

The art community is also on board. Well-known local artists Judy Chinski, Mary Navarro, Betty Newman, Nancy Norman, Tara O’Neill, Bruce Robertson, Linda Schwoeppe and Karen Swanker have all designed larger bowls for the silent auction.

"I have 16 bowls for the silent auction,” said Niemczyk.  "That’s one of the fundraisers. This year they outdid themselves.”

Niemczyk likes the way everyone gets involved in the action.

“It makes the community happy,” she said. "It’s one of the first family events that we’ve had where the kids and the parents can enjoy it together. It just gives them something to do together that they both enjoy. And the fact that we get to give out scholarships to high school seniors make it even better.”

Art teachers from Lely, Marco Island Academy, and Tommie Barfield are all-in. Rob Eder and Shane Totten are from MIA, Lane Beauvais from Tommie Barfield, and Kevin Smith from Lely.

"The art teachers are able to work this into their lesson plans,” Niemczyk said. 

Eder has been participating since the Souper Bowl started on Marco Island. This year he turned over the reins at MIA to Totten.

"We’ve been doing it a long time,” Eder said. "The students enjoy the freedom they receive to add their own designs to the bowls. The parents get involved. It’s just different than some of the other events that go on in the academic world. Some of the kids who don’t feel as comfortable working on a work of art enjoy putting themselves out there with these bowls. They enjoy it. This year Shane Totten was the go-to guy for this. He took on the whole project this year. It’s usually a dozen boxes of six bowls. Some years we’ve done more, some years we’ve done less. The kids like this type of stuff.”

Totten is excited to be involved.

"I am happy to participate in the designing of the bowls,” Totten said. "I learned about it from my friend Desiree Buhelos from the Boat House when she was part of the Leadership Marco group. I participated with my students when I taught middle school art and so I was happy to join in now that I’m at MIA. The students love designing them and many say they still eat from bowls they made years before. Of course the soups are amazing and the whole event is a great community builder.”

Niemczyk said there is no official competition, but that there always seems to be a favorite soup each year.

“There’s not an official contest,” Niemczyk said, "but you find out who has the favorite soup.”

For more information on the Souper Bowl, call the Chamber of Commerce at 239-394-7549.