If there’s a day that’s made for enjoying a little corned beef, it’s St. Patrick’s Day.

But a dozen corned beef sandwiches? All devoured in a mere 10 minutes?

That’s the scene that’s likely to unfold at Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens Wednesday afternoon. The occasion is the first-ever TooJay’s World Class Corned Beef Eating Competition.

The local New York-style deli chain has partnered with the International Federation of Competitive Eating — yes, the same folks behind the Nathan’s Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest — on the event. Even more significant: The contest has attracted some of the, um, heavyweights of the competitive-eating circuit, including current Nathan’s champ Joey Chestnut (he ate 68 hot dogs last year!).

“We knew we were going to get a few big eaters, but we didn’t think we were going to get the top guys,” says TooJay’s marketing chief Annie Catz.

Indeed, in addition to No. 1-ranked competitive eater Chestnut, look for Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti (No. 3) and Bob “Notorious B.O.B.” Shoudt (No. 4). And the top rank isn’t just limited to guys: Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas (No. 5) will also be on hand.

“She once ate 11 pounds of cheesecake in five minutes,” says TooJay’s President Bill Korenbaum.

In all, there will be 10 “professional” competitive eaters, plus five local “amateurs” at the contest, vying for the top prize of $10,000. The amateurs were selected from “a random drawing of participants who were able to eat (TooJay’s) infamous Jaynourmous deli sandwich,” according to the event’s press materials.

The Jaynourmous includes 1.5 pounds of deli meat. Fortunately, the competitors at today’s event will have to contend with only with six ounces of corned beef per sandwich. But the winner is expected to chomp through at least a dozen of them in the 10-minute timeframe.

“Jaw strength is the key thing here,” says International Federation of Competitive Eating exec Richard Shea.

The competition takes place at 1:30 p.m. today in the center courtyard at Downtown at the Gardens (not far from the TooJay’s location at the shopping/dining plaza). But the full festivities run from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

Oh, and yes: TooJay’s corned-beef sandwiches will be available for purchase — just in case you start hungering for a few yourself. You can find more information about the event at downtownatthegardens.com and toojays.com.