Eat, drink and raise money for farmers at Palmetto Palate

Tasty treats and fun trips and knick-knacks to bid on.

It must be time for the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation’s Palmetto Palate, an evening of great food grown by local farmers and prepared by local chefs.

Proceeds from the fundraiser this year will benefit Plant It Forward SC, an initiative to provide relief to farmers devastated by October’s historic floods. In just a few days, parts of the state received almost 25 inches of rain, resulting in washed-out roads, fields under water, and crops left to rot, since the ground was too soggy to support heavy farm equipment.

Flood damage resulted in conservative estimates of $300 million in lost revenue to farmers.

Plant It Forward SC was started by the South Carolina Advocates for Agriculture, with support from the S.C. Department of Agriculture, Clemson University, South Carolina Farm Bureau and Palmetto AgriBusiness Council, as a way to reimburse farmers for a percentage of their seed costs used to plant crops destroyed during the flood, as well as livestock producers who lost hay during that time.

This year, live music will be provided by a jazz ensemble, and a couple of new restaurants will be joining the mix, according to Russell Ott, a South Carolina Farm Bureau spokesman. Those include The War Mouth, a North Main Street restaurant specializing in sublime Southern dishes (think chicken bog, deviled ham and spring vegetable farro), and Salt/&/Sea, with Chef Blake Faries’ savory menu of classic seasonal Southern dishes with Mediterranean and Asian influences available at Nonnah’s on Gervais Street.

Other participating restaurants include The Oak Table, Silver Spoon Bake Shop, Terra, Blue Marlin, Let’s Cook Culinary Studio, 2 Fat 2 Fly, Rosso Trattoria Italia, Pearlz and Juniper. Last year, Chef Brandon Velie of Juniper won the Top Chef competition for having the tastiest dish.

This year, in addition to the ever-popular golf cart, silent auction items donated by county Farm Bureaus will include art prints, handmade items such as knives, baskets and cutting boards, coolers, craft beer assortments and hunting trips.

There also is a 10-person dove hunt in Orangeburg County on the auction block, as well as a deer hunt in Bamberg County, Ott said.

THE VIBE: Food from some of Columbia’s best-known restaurants, combined with the fun of a silent auction and live jazz make for a great way to spend a Thursday night.

THE VERDICT: A good time for a great cause. Enough said.