Photograph by Anthony-Masterson via Getty Images
Community Farmers Markets—a nonprofit network that likely includes at least one of your favorite Atlanta farmers markets—is hosting its inaugural Red Clay Soirée fundraising gala on Friday, November 10. The list of participants reads like, well, a list of the people making much of the finest food and drink in the city right now. (Full disclosure: We’re also the official media sponsor for the event.)
“We wanted to work with people who aren’t celebrity chefs, but instead the rising stars,” says Katie Hayes, CFM’s executive director. “These are the people who are really supporting our farmers markets on a daily basis.”
When guests enter Summerour Studio on the Westside that evening, they’ll be greeted by chefs Nhan Le and Wilson Gourley of Octopus Bar and 8 Arm. The duo will be shucking oysters and passing out bubbly in honor of the late chef Angus Brown, for whom there will also be a special toast. “He was CFM’s number one fan,” says Hayes. He was a huge champion for us.”
Some other highlights:
- Empire State South bar manager Kellie Thorn is in charge of drinks for the night, and she’s tapped Tiffanie Barriere, also known as “The Drinking Coach,” to tend bar. (Barriere, who formerly managed the beverage program at One Flew South in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, is working on her next project in Atlanta. She’s also a brand ambassador for Avion Tequila.)
- Octopus Bar’s Duane Kulers will be the lead chef. “Duane comes to the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market every Thursday, and fills up his baskets, and walks the two blocks from the market to Octopus Bar,” says Hayes. El Super Pan’s Hector Santiago and ChicomecóATL’s Maricela Vega, among others, will create the appetizers, and the seated dinner will be prepared by a stellar lineup: Brian Wolfe of Kimball House, Mike and Shyretha Sheats of the Plate Sale, Kevin Ouzts of the Spotted Trotter, Hudson Rouse of Rising Son, Carolynn Ladd of A Date with Figs, and Jessamine Starr of the Good Food Truck. Chris Edwards, a passionate young farmer who works 11 acres of Stockbridge land called Mayflor Farms, will help coordinate ingredients for the meal.
- The Little Tart Bakeshop’s Sarah O’Brien has organized dessert, which includes treats by Sarah Dodge of 8 Arm, Taria Camerino of the recently-opened Muchacho, Chris Marconi Daugherty of the General Muir, Carey Bell of Proof Bakeshop, and Maria Moore-Riggs of Revolution Doughnuts.
- There will be both live and silent auctions for everything from a BeltLine tour with Ryan Gravel to a private dinner at the home of Todd Ginsberg, chef and owner of the General Muir. There’s even a chanterelle foraging trip with a North Georgia mushroom expert.
As for the name, Red Clay Soirée: “When we think about what connects us all, we think about the ground,” says Hayes. “We all live on this earth—plus Georgia has this crazy soil we’re dealing with. Our farmers are stewards of that land; they nurture it, literally.”
Tickets start at $150, and you can buy them online at Eventbrite.
