Soup’s back on the menu this year.
A favorite February event featuring Carroll County’s top cooks and artists will return next Saturday after skipping a year because of the pandemic.
This year’s event features a new addition to its name — Granny’s Taste of Soup & Art Exhibit — but it will still include the same tasty soup samplings, fellowship and the work of a variety of artists on display.
A fundraiser for the Carroll Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, the event will be held 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Carrollton Community House.
“We missed seeing everybody last year and hope everyone gets to come this year and visit with us, and learn some more about Carroll County and our wonderful folks,” said Pam Lee, an event organizer and member of the Antiquities Society. “We’re looking forward to a good day.”
Granny’s Taste of Soup & Art Exhibit is being dedicated to the late Maxine Nunley.
“When we began Taste of Soup, it was a Friends of the Library project and Maxine Nunley was a member of the Friends, and she was a wonderful worker,” said Lee. “She always gave her full efforts to whatever she was helping with, and we probably would not have been as successful through the years without her.”
Nunley’s family and grandchildren called her Granny. “We thought what better way to recognize her community spirit and dedication than to call it Granny’s Taste of Soup,” Lee said. “Her daughter and granddaughter are also part of the Taste of Soup project. She got them involved, and it just seemed the appropriate name.”
One of the featured soups this year will be a recipe Nunley submitted several years ago. Her Dill Pickle Soup entry was the crowd favorite at the 2016 event.
A cookbook featuring recipes of the soups that will be featured at Granny’s Taste of Soup & Art Exhibit will be given to all who attend. A picture of the late Maxine Nunley is on the cover because the event has been renamed in remembrance of her.
The soup “was a big hit, and it’s such an unusual soup,” said Lee. “It will be making a return this year.”
The other five soups featured this year will be Easy Potato Soup, King Ranch Chicken Soup, Mac ’N Cheese Soup, Quick & Easy Pizza Soup and Stuffed Pepper Soup, which is also a keto-friendly option.
Antiquities Society members selected the featured soups back in the fall and held a tasting.
“This was one time that nobody said, ‘Oh, I like this soup better than I like the other soups.’ We could not among ourselves decide which one was the best,” said Lee. “And, of course, we’re going to let people decide which one they think is the best.”
Jars will be set out beside each soup, where those attending can select the most popular one for a penny a vote.
Although a tray to carry the soup cups will be provided, those attending are encouraged to bring their own muffin tins in which to set the cups of soup for a steadier tray.
“That is still the best way we have found to carry the soups around,” said Lee.
This year, there will also be an addition of a take-out option.
“We recognize that some people still don’t feel comfortable out and about, and so we’re offering the take-out cups with lids,” said Lee. “People can come by and pick up what they have bought. If they want to take a quick look at the artists’ work, they can do that and then go home and eat their soup. And there again, the muffin tin would be great for transporting those home.”
A cookbook featuring recipes of all the event’s soups will be given to all who attend. The cookbook will also include some interesting facts.
“Since the Antiquities Society started doing this event, we’ve been adding information about the history of Carroll County or historic places in Carroll County, and this year we talk about some of the historic schools,” said Lee.
Extra copies of the cookbooks can be purchased after the event for $2 each.
The 2022 featured artists are painters Preston Cantor and Shirley Fox Rush, decor craftswoman Susan Ricks, candlemaker Vicki Minga, and Dr. Craig Clark, who builds electric guitar bodies in his spare time.
Each year of the event, different Carroll County artists have attended and exhibited their work.
“There have been years we’ve thought that we had found everybody and then we’ll turn around, and before you know it, we’ll have a whole list of new artists,” said Lee.
Lee, who is also the mayor of Carrollton, said that the ability to find new artists every year shows that Carroll County has many gifted residents.
“Carroll County is blessed with wonderful cooks and very talented people,” she said, “and a Taste of Soup & Art Exhibit is a good way to showcase both of those.”
The event began in 2007 as a way to raise funds to help with purchases for the Carrollton-North Carrollton Library and recognize the many talented artists in Carroll County. When the Friends of the Library decided not to host the 2019 event, the Carroll Society for the Preservation of Antiquities decided to take the project. Funds will be used to help preserve the buildings owned by the society.
The Antiquities Society owns the Merrill Museum and the Conservative building and has a 99-year lease with the county on the old Carroll County jail.
To make a donation toward the maintenance of the buildings, send checks, made out to the Carroll Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, to P.O. Box 541, Carrollton, MS, 38917. The Antiquities Society is a 501(c)(3).
Tickets to Granny’s Taste of Soup & Art Exhibit are sold at the Carrollton Town Hall and by members of the Antiquities Society. Tickets will also be available at the door, but event organizers encourage those who would like to attend to purchase a ticket before Feb. 5 in order for the correct amount of soup to be prepared.
Tickets are $10 each.
For more information, visit www.visitcarrolltonms.com.
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
