Pre-Dogwood Days

The Atlanta Dogwood Festival started this year's fun early with Arts in Bloom, a friendly culinary showdown between Shaun Doty of Shaun’s Restaurant and Chip Ulbrich with South City Kitchen at Lit Kitchen.From left, board member Charles Green, Dogwood Festival executive director Brian Hill, Bruce Meyer and board chairman Stephen Andrews.

The Atlanta Dogwood Festival is April 17-19 but things kicked off early the other night at Lit Kitchen with a friendly culinary showdown between Shaun Doty and Chip Ulbrich.

Judges were Suchita Vadlamani from Good Day Atlanta, food writer Sarah Gleim, Tiffany Davis of DailyCandy, festival executive director Brian Hill and Kirsten Ott from Sunday Paper.

Best wishes to Ott and fiancée Maria Palladino, above, by the way.

Ulbrich’s strawberry rhubarb pie martini paired with braised pork belly  edged out Doty’s rhubarb Eton Mess, a popular English school dessert.

Here and there

The Atlanta alumnae chapter of Alpha Chi Omega hosted its Golden Lyre Gala last month at Mason Murer Fine Art. The event featured a silent auction and wine tasting, and raised more than $8,000 for the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation and Partnership Against Domestic Violence. Alexis Nelson is chapter president.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History is planning “Lost Oasis 2009: Jurassic Jam,” inspired by the current exhibit, Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries. The fund-raiser starts at 8 p.m. June 13 and benefits children’s programming at Fernbank.

The bash features live music, a silent auction, dining and dancing. Kara Worthington and Michele and Jeff McKinnis, who are all active in Fernbank’s Artemis guild of young professionals, are co-chairing the event. Tickets are $100 each. See fernbankmuseum.org or call 404-929-6404.

In other news

Hillgrove High School bands and the Avenue West Cobb plan the Taste of West Cobb from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 18 to benefit the Powder Springs school’s band program. Tickets are $1 to $4 for samples from participating restaurants. Students in Hillgrove High School bands, the Lovinggood Band, Kemp Elementary honor chorus and Clarkdale Elementary band and chorus will perform. Christopher Ferrell is Hillgrove High School’s director of bands.www.tasteofwestcobb.org, www.hillgroveband.com.  

Chastain-Tuxedo Park Friends holds the fourth annual Nine at Night Twilight Golf Tournament and Silent Auction on May 9 at the North Fulton Golf Course at Chastain Park. Co-chaired by Angie Messner and Jennifer Woods, it begins with check-in at 5:30 p.m. The best ball tourney played with glow-in-the-dark balls starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $120, or $65 for the dinner and party only. The event benefits Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. See the web site or call 404-547-0391

Cameron Clayton, left, Jennings Pitts and Chris Mann at the opening reception for the Steve Penley show at the Marietta/Cobb Art Museum.

Loretta David greets artist Steve Penley at the opening night reception. His show runs through June 13 at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.

Steve Penley’s paintings — and Penley himself — packed the house at the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art the other night.

The crowd attending the recent opening reception, during which Penley mingled and signed autographs, included Leigh Ann and Ray Worden, Sarah and John Bullington, Melissa and Chris Poston, Jim Glover, Hayley Hedrick, Chris Mann, Cameron Clayton, Jennings Pitts, Madeline Knox and Karen Reardon.

Sally Macaulay is the museum’s director.

The Penley show runs through June 13, and  will provide a dynamic setting for the museum’s next Martinis and Music. The April 17 event features hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. Admission is $8.