CHIMACUM — A free bowl of warmth, a piece of art to hold in your hands: Both are part of the annual Community Bowls and Soup Sharing today at Finnriver Farm & Cidery.
The event, which started Friday, wraps up today with soup served from noon to 6 p.m. at the farm, 124 Center Road.
First held last year, this is a fundraiser for local food pantries, with nearby ceramicists involved: Laughing Gnome Pottery, Center Valley Pottery, Alex Kroh and Millbrook Clayworks. Along with Finnriver’s cooks, they’ve laid out handcrafted bowls to be filled with vegetarian chili all afternoon.
A donation of $25 is encouraged, with proceeds supporting Olympic Neighbors and the Jefferson County Food Bank.
Finnriver Farm & Cidery crew members Evelyn Cilley, left, and Sarah Albert co-host the Community Bowls and Soup Sharing this weekend. (Diane Urbani de la Paz / Peninsula Daily News)
“I want to give a shout-out to the potters,” said Finnriver cofounder Crystie Kisler, noting the four have donated dozens of bowls.
Also today, Finnriver is serving free carry-out soup from its kitchen for anyone hungry for it. No donation is required, Kisler said. To pick up soup to go, visitors should come to the farm’s barnside window.
“It went very well last year,” Kisler said, adding that 2020’s version is considerably modified.
The Cider Garden continues to be open for dining, with a variety of safety protocols described at finnriver.com.
“It’s essentially a dine-in model,” said Kisler, though the space is open to the elements: a host escorts you to a table, you order from an app and food and cider are brought out.
“It’s quite choreographed where you can walk and where you can’t walk,” she said, but orchard strolls are just fine.
The Community Bowls and Soup Sharing happened to start one day after Kisler received news of Finnriver Farm & Cidery’s arrival on an elite roster: Condé Nast Traveler’s 2021 Gold List. Curated by the magazine’s editors in New York City and London, it praises destinations exemplifying the gold standard of hospitality.
With its covered wooden structure, Finnriver offers “the best of being inside and out at the same time. With a pizza maker sliding pies into a wood-fired oven in one corner and a bluegrass band playing in the corner, the sparkling, alcoholic cider is only part of the draw,” Gold List reviewer Allison Williams writes on CNTraveler.com.
“Everything feels relaxed in this farm-based drinkery, more like a big picnic with people you don’t know.”
The honor is “very bittersweet,” said Kisler. It affirms the Finnriver crew’s efforts and highlights the farm to an international readership.
But “we’re certainly not encouraging global travel at the moment,” she said.
“Now is not the time.”
Finnriver does invite local residents to the farm and cidery, where “we uphold the highest standard of safety protocols. We’ve gotten lots of positive feedback about that.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
