On the evening of Saturday, Feb. 8, The Grinnell Area Arts Council and the Stew Makerspace collaborated to host the Stew Fest, which raised about $2,200 for the Makerspace, according to Program Manager Craig Gibbens.
For $20 a ticket, attendees sampled a variety of homemade stews prepared by community members. Fourteen local artists also contributed 24 entries to a silent auction, including textiles, ceramics, and beadwork.
“The point is really to raise awareness of the Makerspace, but also to give people an opportunity to come together and celebrate making in other ways,” Gibbens said. “Cooking is a type of making as well, and so is giving community chefs an opportunity to share their skills and bring everyone together in a way that will support the Makerspace.”
Gibbens said that the funds raised will be used to keep costs low for patrons using the Stew Makerspace. In addition to free access for Grinnell students, the Makerspace charges community members $40 a month to use the space and the Grinnell Arts Council lets Grinnell High School students use the Makerspace for free.
“The cost of the program is much greater than what we actually charge,” Gibbens said. “College students get to use it for free because of the support of the College but even that is probably only 50 percent of the overall budget.”Jane Mertens, who serves on the Stew Makerspace Committee, said that the organizers hoped to raise about $3000 with this event, which is the amount that they raised last year.
Mertens also said she was excited about the breadth of art in the silent auction. “A lot of them [the artists] are already part of the Stew Makerspace across the street, and so we sent out a thing to say, ‘Hey, does anybody want to donate art to us?’” Mertens said. “But then we also have a really active member base for the Grinnell Area Arts Council. We find people that way, too.”
This year’s Stew Fest was the third annual event since the Covid-19 pandemic. “Since it’s still new, we’re still figuring out how to make it something that even more people will want to come to,” Gibbens said. “Hopefully we’ll have great improvements for the next year.”
Event attendees crowned Gina Donovan `03, learning management system administrator at the College, as the Best Stew Chef for her curry lentil soup. “I take knitting here,” Donovan said, “so I like fundraisers for the space.”
Erik Simpson, professor of English at the College, served a potato-lentil soup. “I’ve done all kinds of ceramics and paper arts at the Stew,” Simpson said. “I’m a really devoted user, so this is a helpful way to support the operations and the logistics here.”
While Simpson deemed his stew “utterly magical,” Stew manager Nina Vo `25 may have not had as much success. “Every year the monitors make a stew together to give back to this event,” Vo said. “We made a broccoli and cheese soup. We kind of burnt it, so we’re calling it a smoky broccoli and cheese soup.”
Despite falling short of the fundraiser goal due to lower attendance than last year, Gibbens said that putting on the event was rewarding. “It’s a good event, and I think people enjoy it,” Gibbens said. “I think it’ll become an important part of our culture in the years to come.”
