SUMMER STARTER
The season gets underway at spacious Sandacres Estate, this year’s setting for Southampton Hospital’s 24th Annual Memorial Day Weekend Benefit. 6 p.m. Quogue. 631-726-8700.


*MERRY MEN
Billy Crystal emcees the Robin Hood Foundation’s Annual Benefit; with special guests Elton John and James Brown; chaired by Jeffrey Immelt, John Mack, and Lachlan Murdoch; at the Javits Center. 6 p.m. 212-245-6570, ext. 20.


*BURNING BRIGHT
Carroll Petrie, Tiffany’s William Chaney, and Burberry’s Rose Marie Bravo are honorary chairs of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Annual Gala, “Tiger Time,” held at the Central Park Zoo and chaired by Leonard and Alison Stern. 6:30 p.m. 718-220-5090.


*TROPHIES FOR TOGS
And the awards go to?... Nominees: Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, and Narcisco Rodriquez—when the Council of Fashion Designers of America holds an invitation-only, black-tie tribute at the New York Public Library to hand out its annual fashion kudos, the 2003 CFDA Fashion Awards. 7 p.m. NYC. 212-302-1821.

*GREAT GALS
Producer and actor Tina Chen, cosmetics queen Bobbi Brown, American Theater Wing legend Isabelle Stevenson, and ongoing Broadway star Chita Rivera will be lauded when Pat and Gerald Schoenfeld chair the presentation dinner for the Women of Achievement Awards Gala. 7 p.m. Tavern on the Green. 212-838-2660.

*MOVABLE FEAST
Thirty of the nation’s top chefs will gather at Rockefeller Center to carve, toast, and boil up their best for over 1,000 guests at their major munch-and-mingle, the Citymeals-on-Wheels 19th Annual Great American Chefs’ Tribute to James Beard. 7:30 p.m. Rockefeller Plaza. 212-687-1290.


*FLORAL FROLIC
With the New York Botanical Garden as mise-en-scene, the Conservancy Ball is usually one of the loveliest parties of the year. Co-chairing this season are Mai Harrison, Friederike Biggs, and Jeannie Jones. 7:30 p.m. The New York Botanical Garden. 212-573-6933.


AUTO AFFAIRS
A daylong auction preview and evening cocktail party kick off the Hamptons Auto Classic Auction/Hamptons Concours d’Elegance 2003, which precedes the following day’s “Chefs’ Tasting” luncheon and cutting-edge Elle magazine fashion show on Sunday. 6-8 p.m. cocktails. Bridgehampton. 631-537-1868.


SWEET SIXTEEN
Again this year, Jerry Della Femina and Judy Licht invite guests to their waterfront estate for Garden Gala XVI cocktails benefiting “Body Positive.” 5 p.m. 212-566-7333.

ARTFUL FUN
Guest auctioneers Kathleen Turner, Isaac Mizrahi, and Peter Boyle sell prints from four decades of Roy Lichtenstein’s career at the Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Summer Event. Dorothy Lichtenstein’s home is the setting for cocktails with honorary co-chairs Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, April Gornik and Eric Fischl, Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook, Alec Baldwin, Ross Bleckner, and Donna Karan. 5:30-7:30 p.m. Southampton. 631-361-7526, ext. 235.


GARDEN GALLIVANT
Winding up the first of two days of Landscape Pleasures lectures and tours of area gardens, the Parrish Art Museum holds a cocktail party co-chaired by Lillian Cohen, Perry Guillot, Charlotte Moss, and Edwina von Gal. From 9 a.m. Southampton. 631-283-2118, ext. 33.


CUE THE GRILLERS
A “Kitchen Cabinet” of celebrity chefs joins honoree Bobby Flay and honorary chair Al Roker for this year’s “Barbecue and Beyond Party” at Villa Maria to benefit Maryhaven Center of Hope. Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley, Rona Jaffe, Caroline Hirsch, George Plimpton, Marty Richards, and Mayor Bloomberg are among supporters who will feast on wings and ribs. 5:30 p.m. Water Mill. 631-329-5480.


EAST END EATS
Allison by the Beach, Tierra Mar, B and B Clambakes, and more than forty of the East End’s best restaurants, chefs, and wineries set up at Wolffer Estate to serve savories and to honor outstanding charity volunteer Linda Cohen Wassong. “Taste of the Hamptons” supports Family Service League’s East End Programs. 5 p.m. Sagaponack. 631-427-3700.

SITES AND SUPPER
After viewing “In Response To Place” (conservation sites photographed by Annie Leibovitz, William Wegman, and Hope Sandrow), guests in festive dress will dine and dance to Alex Donner’s music at The Nature Conservancy’s on-site “The Beaches and Bays Ball.” 6:30 p.m. East Hampton. 631-329-3981,ext. 19.

SHOW & TELL
Be among the first to see how designers Eric Cohler, Tony Ingrao, Alexa Hampton, Noel Jeffrey, and others decorate a 1920’s village mansion when chairpersons Alessandro and Catherine di Montezemolo, Somers Farkas, Jessie Araskog, Mario Buatta, and Charlotte Moss host the gala kick-off party for this year’s “Show House,” which benefits Southampton Hospital. 6:30 p.m. Southampton. 631-745-0004.


POP-ULAR PICNIC
Grucci Fireworks conclude the Southampton Fresh Air Home’s annual “All American Picnic” with a festively catered meal of chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs preceding the pyrotechnics. Barbara McEntee, Pamela Schoen, and Ellen L’Esperance co-chair. 7 p.m. Meadow Lane, Southampton. 631-283-5847.


OH SO FINE
The Shirelles headline the popular annual blues party for this year’s Children’s Museum of the “East End Under the Stars” at Channing Daughters Winery. 6 p.m. Bridgehampton. 631-537-8250.

DREAM TEAM
Anne Hearst, Patty Raynes, Marcia and Richard Mishaan, Debbie Bancroft, Beth Rudin DeWoody, and Katharina Otto-Bernstein head a Midsummer Gala “dream” committee for the Parrish Art Museum’s annual arboretum party. (The young social set hold their own “Associates Dinner” in an adjacent air-conditioned tent.) 7 p.m. Southampton. 631-283-2118, ext. 41.