Call it the great chef invasion. It happens this weekend when dozens of acclaimed chefs hit town for this year’s Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival.

In truth, it’s as if there will be various mini festivals spinning in one during the five-day shindig, which kicks off Friday afternoon and runs through Tuesday night. If last year’s festival was a momentous affair, bringing a horde of prestigious James Beard Award winners to Palm Beach, this year’s fest builds on that precedent. And rushes across the bridges into the mainland for a series of signature events.

So despite its name, the festival is no longer the domain of the island. Sure, there are exquisite events planned for the Four Seasons Resort, The Breakers and top Palm Beach restaurants. But many of the festival’s star chefs will be working their craft in the farmland of Loxahatchee, at a couple of Clematis Street hot spots and even on a suburban West Palm golf course.

And whereas last year’s affair partnered with the James Beard Foundation, raising funds for the culinary powerhouse’s educational programs, this year’s fest has expanded its philanthropic profile.

With the James Beard Foundation no longer a partner, festival organizers added a charity component they call Chefs Dish Back. The program supports a slate of charities chosen by the participating chefs by distributing the festival’s entire net proceeds evenly among those charities.

“This year, the festival touches a lot more on giving. It really allowed us to connect with more chefs. It’s very appealing to chefs who look for ways to raise dollars for their charities of choice,” says Sabin. “We’ve got 20-plus charities involved this year. It’s pretty exciting.”

Besides dollars for charity, the chef invasion brings story lines that go from the earthy to the extravagant.

• There’s the earthy: about a dozen chefs and culinary personalities converge at Swank Farm in Loxahatchee Sunday for the Food4Thought farm-to-table lunch. That night, the festival celebrates sustainable foods at PB Catch in Palm Beach at a dinner headlined by chef/restaurateur and Food Network “Chopped” judge Marc Murphy.

• There’s the festive: TV celebrity chefs like Food Network’s Robert Irvine and Jeff Mauro and Top Chef’s Fabio Viviani and Kevin Sbraga turn out to flip their favorite burgers at “Burgers by the Beach” at the Four Seasons Resort on Saturday afternoon.

• There’s the jazzy: celebrated chef Norman Van Aken riffs on his Key West inspirations at a pairings event Saturday afternoon at the Virginia Philip Wine Shop & Academy in downtown West Palm.

• There’s the avant-garde: Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard joins James Beard Award winner Stephen Stryjewski at a rotisserie feast titled “Southern Hospitality: Pig and the Goat” at Pistache in downtown West Palm Beach. The inspired fare continues with JBF winners and nominees sharing the kitchen at Buccan in Palm Beach for a hot event titled The Last Supper.

• And there’s the gilded: The Breakers transforms itself for one night into an old-guard New York institution, Le Cirque, for a tribute to its founder, Sirio Maccioni. The evening features Le Cirque alums, among them chefs Daniel Boulud, David Burke, Marc Murphy, and chocolatier Jacques Torres.

More festival details and our conversations with some of the star chefs participating in this year’s festival appear in this section, as well as in the TGIF section on Friday and Sunday’s Accent section.

For festival coverage this weekend, follow us on Twitter @PBPulseDining or @LizBalmaseda or visit our dining blog – blogs.palmbeachpost.com/feastpb/