A bit of celebrity flair will be added to next month’s “Sweet Event,” a fundraiser featuring desserts and entertainment benefiting the Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care Center.
Heather Hurlbert, a past contestant on Bravo’s reality television show “Top Chef,” will create some of the desserts attendees can sample. Organizers say Hurlbert plans to attend, but her busy schedule may prevent her from being there. She has been the executive pastry chef at Cherokee Town & Country Club in Atlanta since 2005.
The third annual Sweet Event will be Saturday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at Trevitt Hall in downtown Dalton. Tickets are $25 and are available at the day care center, Green Spot, Hurt’s Cleaners and The Dalton Depot.
“We are thrilled to have someone of Chef Hurlbert’s notoriety involved with our event,” said? day care board chairman Curtis Callaway. “She has been quite accommodating, fitting the Day Care Center into her busy schedule and personally making an effort to attend The Sweet Event. We are seeing people flock to larger markets, paying lots of money to attend meet and greets with celebrity chefs. We hope that the citizens of our community will appreciate the opportunity available right in their backyard to sample the work of a master pastry chef, for a fraction of the cost, all the while supporting one of the community’s important service agencies.”
The nationally-accredited center, which is a United Way agency, will mark its 40th anniversary later this year. The year-round program serves children from 15 months to school age. It serves 225 children for 10 months coinciding with the school calendar, and that number increases in the summer during a camp for children ages 5 to 8. The center has pre-k, Head Start and early Head Start classrooms.
“Our mission is to provide high quality child care for parents who are working or are going to school,” center Director Debbie Rector said. “We provide a nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack, and then we do a lot of things with the parents. Our whole emphasis is getting the whole family ready to go to school. We have parent conferences, parent education meetings, we hold social events.”
At The Sweet Event, a silent auction will include many items including an autographed jersey by Herschel Walker, a former football player at the University of Georgia, and other college memorabilia. There are also three trips: a seven-night stay at a villa in the Harbor Town resort in Hilton Head, S.C.; a three-night trip to New York City, which includes tickets to a Broadway show; and a three-night stay in Napa Valley in California
“We’ve been blessed with great participation from local vendors,” Callaway said.
Entertainment will be provided by The Dave Pope Trio.
Not only does the event raise awareness about the center, it also highlights happenings in downtown Dalton, board member Veronica French said. The center is in the official historic downtown business district.
“It’s a good way for us to showcase the center because a lot of people don’t know that it’s here or what services they provide,” said French, who is also the marketing director for the Downtown Dalton Development Authority. “We use this as a way to let people have a good time but also we have some items such as children’s artwork that will be displayed and handouts on ways to get involved. We’re trying to give a snapshot of what it’s all about.”
For information, call the center at (706) 278-8991 or visit The Sweet Event’s Facebook page.
