“A Grand Ole Soupabration” on September 10, 2011 pits Central Coast chefs and restaurants competingSoupabration Logo for the best soups around, at a fundraiser benefiting Friends of the Elephant Seal (see note), a nonprofit organization. The event will be held at 1155 Cayucos Creek Road, Cayucos, CA from noon to 5 pm.

Food Network celebrity Chef Rahm Fama and Los Angeles celebrity chef, Dakota Weiss are among the celebrity judges to pick the best one.

Festivities include: sampling the artisanal soups  and voting for your favorite soup, a non-alcoholic beverages, horseshoe competitions, raffles,  a silent auction  and a caramel apple dip booth.

Tickets, which are now on sale) are $40 per person, children 10 & under free; additional $10 for tastings from seven wineries plus a souvenir glass. For tickets or more information, click here.

– guest contributor

NOTE: The Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris, is an extraordinary marine mammal. It spends eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest. The Piedras Blancas rookery, on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast, is home to about 15,000 animals. The area is open for viewing every day of the year and there is no admission fee or reservation required.