This family-friendly midday event includes a jazz concert of traditional New Orleans-style jazz by Barnebey's Hot Four accompanying the annual Chowder Challenge tasting competition. Local chefs, cooks and even amateur competitors vie for the title of "Best Mendonoma Coast Chowder."

$20 includes Festival Logo wine or beer glass and 15 tickets for chowder tastings and beverages, including fine wines and microbrew as well as soft beverages. Hot bread fresh out of the oven is included in the tastings. Additional tickets are available for $1 each.

A panel of 'celebrity' judges will determine winners in both professional and amateur classes in the categories of Traditional (New England Style Clam Chowder) and an Open Class (for all manner of seafood and even vegetarian chowders). A "People's Choice" vote of the Chowder & Jazz patrons decides the most popular entry and there is even a cash award for the entrant with the 'most tasted' chowder!

This year the Chowder Challenge "People's Choice" and "Most Tasted" contests end promptly at 1:15 p.m. so the winners in all classes can be announced by 1:30 p.m., to give patrons a chance to sample the winner's chowders before they are all gone! Fred Adler from KTDE, 100.5 FM is music coordinator and emcee of the event.

Entry Form: Calling All Chefs!

Winners of past years' Chowder Challenges

Tom Barnebey's Hot Four
New Orleans Jazz

On the afternoon of April 7th, the roots of jazz will be brought to life by Barnebey's Hot Four. Tom has assembled a group of versatile jazz musicians well versed in the good time, swinging, improvisational style of the Crescent City. The repertoire for the afternoon will include old favorites, the resurrection of some obscure musical gems from the golden age of jazz, and probably a few surprises for the musicians and listeners alike, all in the tradition of the free and easy music of New Orleans.

The members of the Hot Four will be:

Tom Barnebey, cornet & trombone

Tom has been in trad jazz since the 1960s, when he began playing banjo and piano in pizza parlors around the Los Angeles area, and cornet with the then newly formed Jelly Roll Jazz Band. After moving to Sonoma County, he led the well regarded Jazz Salvation Company for 20 years. A highlight on the JSC's schedule in last nine of those years was the annual Dixieland by the Sea concert in Gualala. Tom is currently the cornetist with the Zenith Jazz Band, leads a Roaring Twenties style quintet called "Beyond Salvation Jazz Band", and fills in on various instruments with other trad bands in the Bay Area.

Marty Eggers, bass & piano.

Marty began his trad jazz career at age 16 playing piano in the Black Diamond Jazz Band. He is now a busy professional musician known for his ragtime piano stylings and for his solid work on string bass and tuba. He has performed around the country with the likes of Butch Thompson (of Prairie Home Companion fame), and has played with such groups as Clint Baker's New Orleans Jazz Band, Black Diamond Blue Five, Bo Grumpus (a ragtime trio), and his own Front Street Wanderers.

Carl Lunsford, banjo & guitar

A traditional jazz veteran, Carl played with the world renowned Turk Murphy Jazz Band in San Francisco, as well as the Ohio Dixieland Rhythm Kings, the Red Onion Jazz Band in New York, and the Golden State Jazz Band. He led the Rhythm Wizards and a number of other combos, and teamed up with pianist Pete Clute to form a high powered trad jazz/ragtime duo.

Robert Young, reeds & cornet

Prior to his move to Northern California, Robert was bass saxophonist in the legendary Golden Eagle Jazz Band and worked with various other jazz bands in Southern California Robert is a multi instrumentalist and a full time musician. His "day job" is piano accompanist for schools, choral groups and theatrical performances. He plays cornet and reeds with the Black Diamond Blue Five and his own group, the El Dorado Syncopators. In the recent past he has worked with the Zenith Jazz Band, Fourth Street Five, and the San Francisco Starlight Orchestra.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.