By: Alex Estes [Co-Yearbook Editor]

The Marion Arts Festival was a long awaited event for many students and adults alike; and it has finally come. Yesterday, Saturday, May 18th, was a day filled with art and charity, as a very big event of the Marion Arts Festival, which takes place inside the Train Depot, is the Empty Bowls ceramic bowl sales.

Jen Thilges, an art teacher at Marion High School, is a proud supporter of the Empty Bowls organization. To help advertise the festival, there is a display set up where students’ artwork normally goes. “[The display] consists of bowls that students painted for One Day in May,” said Thilges, “It’s another way they [the students] can learn to give back to the community.” All of the proceeds from the Empty Bowls sale were donated to food banks around the Linn County area, and participating in the festival is another way students can volunteer and give back to the community.

All of the bowls come from the very community that they are helping. “In all of my ceramics and advanced ceramics classes, I have every student make at least one bowl to contribute to the sale,” Thilges said. Since students don’t have to stay after school or show up early, it makes contributing to the fight against hunger really easy. Being able to volunteer whilst in class automatically raises the amount of bowls for sale immensely, thus raising proceeds. “We open it up for volunteering, also” Thilges said.

Volunteering in the Marion Arts Festival, or even buying from the Empty Bowls sale, helps increase the amount of mouths that Linn County food banks will be able to feed. This festival is a great opportunity for one to give back to their community.