"Check it out!" cries Mara Davis, the ebullient Dave FM deejay. She raises her arm, points her finger. "This is what I've been talking about."

I follow the direction of her finger across the scene at Chastain Park Amphitheatre during the hour before a recent George Benson concert. She points across a vista of red-checked paper tablecloths and day lilies in teardrop vases; of purple gel votives and battery-powered face fans; of Publix deli party pinwheels and clustered champagne grapes; of stuffed shells and sushi and Chick-fil-A and cheese cubes; of magnums of Heidsieck & Co. Monopole champagne; and of margaritas in sweaty plastic glasses being raised to the lips of even sweatier people.

Photos by BECKY STEIN/Special (ENLARGE)

The fun begins before Raul Midón and George Benson take the Chastain stage as Wytana Thomas (center), Jennifer Samples and Dwayne Samples (far right) and Ed Thomas dine at their table. Elaborate settings have become a tradition at the outdoor concerts over the past three decades.

(ENLARGE)

Karen and Ross Pryor did a tiki-themed table with margaritas.

(ENLARGE)

Mara Davis of Dave FM (standing) checks in on season ticket holders Lee Lealand (bespectacled in foreground) and his wife, Carol (left), who served guests homemade stuffed shells at the recent George Benson concert at Chastain Park, where music meets fine wine and a good meal among friends.

(ENLARGE)

Teena Trayhan shows off hot wings from Hooters, presented, of course, with silver in tried-and-true, très chic, Chastain Park style.

THE CHASTAIN WAY • Number of tables available for purchase: 308 (63 prime "Pit Tables") • Cost of a table per concert: $222 to $549 each • Cost of a simple "Music Box" dinner for two from EatZi's catering: $19.99 • Cost of the average catered dinner for six from Proof of the Pudding: $300 • Cost of the most expensive bottle of wine offered on-site by Chastain Ventures Concessions: $42 • Official coffee of Classic Chastain: Starbucks • Performers famously not pleased with Chastain diners: Garrison Keillor, Neil Young, Michael Stipe, Rickie Lee Jones

What?

"Come on," Davis says. "We've got to talk to these people." And then I see the object of her delight: Through the sedentary feast that is a concert at Chastain, one item shines brightly. It's a silver chafing dish — the kind of thing raised on curved legs and topped with an Easter bonnet of a lid, an object that you might get for a wedding present and stick away into a cabinet never to touch again, except here it is.

"Hi, I'm Mara Davis from Dave FM, and I love your table!" she enthuses. " I was wondering if we could see what's in here?"

"Of course," laughs Teena Trayhan, raising the lid to expose a mound of hot wings. It is the centerpiece on a beautifully set table that also brims with chicken and sides from Hooters, packaged sushi, petit fours and a fresh bottle of Crown Royal still in its blue cloth sleeve. "The food makes everything else better," Trayhan says.

Yes, the food. If there is one thing that defines Chastain — defines Atlanta, in a way — it's the food. Other outdoor concert venues such as Wolf Trap near Washington, D.C., and Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., attract their fair share of picnickers. But Chastain patrons over their 33 years of attending concerts have famously, some might say infamously, turned them into massive outdoor dinner parties.

"The dynamic has stayed wonderfully Atlantan," says Rudi Schlegel, vice president of presentations for the Atlanta Symphony, which produced the Classic Chastain series. "You bring your friends to the table. There's candlelight, flowers, food, wine and friendship."

And with friendship comes a whole lot of glass-clinking — sometimes to the displeasure of the performers. Last year, Garrison Keillor complained of the "large number of loud drunks sitting in the expensive corporate seats down close to the stage." Other performers, such as Natalie Merchant, have likened the experience to "dinner theater."

There is no denying the sheer theatrics that go into the art of table setting at Chastain.

"Everyone who's eating here," Davis continues as we stroll among the tables, "they're eyeing each other's tables. It's a total competition. Look at that table," she points. "Their chip tray matches their flowers!"

Davis says that she has been to "a couple dozen" shows at Chastain over the years but tends to bring a bag of dinner without any bud vases or candles.

"When I brought a burrito and chips, people were, like, gasp!" she laughs.

Davis' attention turns to another woman marching down the stairs, her head barely peeking out from behind a vase filled with long-stemmed red roses.

"I just don't get it," she says. "You know at the end they're just going to have to schlep all that stuff back."

Another party sips blended margaritas, and Davis wonders how they managed to pull that one off.

"The variety is incredible," Davis laughs. "Just look around."

David Smith, sitting on the sidelines eating sushi from a box with his wife, Mary Ellen, overhears Davis' comment and can't help but adding his two cents. "The whole thing here," he says contemplatively, "it's every flavor across the human continuum."