A mad rush of eager buyers flooded the Lawrence Arts Center on Saturday to buy bowls.

“See, it’s a good thing we got here early,” Shauna Ozark told her friend while standing in the long check-out line.

“I’m not sure if we got just the right bowl,” said Beverly Fertig after making her purchase. “I was walking around with three or four at any given time.”

About 400 people combed through 700 ceramic bowls of all colors, shapes and sizes, hunting for the one they liked most.

“Eighty percent of them are brown and kind of generic looking, but there are some that … are colorful and fun,” said Ozark, 17.

“I just look for something that’s unusual and just fun,” Fertig said.

The persnickety perusing is a part of Souper Bowl Saturday, a decades-old fundraiser conducted the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

The center sold about 600 bowls ranging in price from $10 to $30 this year, making it the biggest year ever, said Tennille Murrey, arts center business director.

“It’s just exciting and fun and a great way to make money for the arts center,” said Rebecca Pickering, an arts center student.

The $5,500 raised this year will be used to purchase new equipment and supplies for the center’s ceramics program, which has up to 155 students enrolled at any given time, ranging in age from 5-year-olds to adults.

“It really helps the program here,” said 17-year-old Johanna Mehl, an arts center student.

Students of the program, as well as local artists and high school students, made most of the bowls.

Many start crafting them before Christmas, said Pickering, who made 10 bowls that were sold.

Hy-Vee donated vegetable and chicken noodle soup, and Great Harvest Bread Co. supplied rolls to hungry supporters.

Most exciting for Pickering was seeing other artists’ creations and watching people shop.

“It’s fun to see (bowls) go,” she said. “You almost want to chase them down and say, ‘I made that!'”