Oddfellows, the restaurant, and the Odd Fellows, the fraternal order, are teaming up to put on a fundraiser for the Sunset High School marching band.

The Odd County Fair, in the Bishop Arts District from noon-5 p.m. Saturday, March 31, includes a soapbox derby, square dance and petting zoo. It costs $50 to enter the derby. All proceeds go to the band.

While we’re at it, we should mention that Eno’s Brew Riot 2012 has been scheduled for Sunday, May 20. It costs $20 to enter the home-brew competition, or $10 if you provide your own tent.

It’s looking like the dream of the 1890s really is alive in Oak Cliff.

Countless events and celebrations will be taking place over this weekend in honor of the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, and Dallas is brimming with excitement even though it won’t be available for use until the end of March.

The official celebration, being put on by the Trinity Trust, includes a concert headlining Lyle Lovett and a street fair allowing pedestrians to walk around the bridge. The Trinity River Levee Run, hosted by the Trinity Commons Foundation, is another complementary piece.

Bridge-O-Rama is the West Dallas Chamber of Commerce‘s own celebration.

“The point of the bridge is connection,” says Bridge-O-Rama spokesman Jeff Herrington. “There were no events here in the West Dallas community, so Bridge-O-Rama is to showcase the community that is now connected to downtown.”

With more than 50 events to participate in over the weekend, it will be hard to figure out exactly where to go and what to do. But If you’re looking for the events closest to our neighborhood, or wanting to support Cliffites involved in the celebration, here are your best bets:

The Kessler Theater  is hosting the World Music Stage. Featuring sounds from all over the world, the concert will be held March 3 from 1-6 p.m. Headline act, The Relatives, grew up in West Dallas and are critically acclaimed for their gospel and R&B sound. This will be their first ever performance in Dallas.

The Parade of Giants promises to be an amazing event with 15 10-foot-tall puppets created to represent people who have touched West Dallas and made it the community that it is today. Oak Cliff-based artists Nicole Horn and Kevin Obregon each designed one of the puppets. The parade starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Singleton and Herbert and heads east across the bridge at 1 p.m. on March 3. La Reunion is the parade sponsor.

More of a showcase than an event, Spread is promoting a number of West Dallas and Oak Cliff restaurants during the weekend. Those closest to our neighborhood are Smoke; the Foundry, the new bar co-owned by Chris Jeffers and Chris Zielke of Bolsa and Bolsa Mercado fame; Bar Belmont; Burguesa Burger; and a preview of the soon-to-open Chicken Scratch. Also, as part of Spread, Sylvan Thirty will host another of its “Taste of Things to Come” events on Saturday, March 3, 1-4 p.m. to showcase future tenants Cox Farms Market, Matador Meat and Wine, and Pearl Cup Coffee.

The Urban Emergence seminar will be held in Methodist hospital’s Hitt Auditorium on Sunday, March 4, 2-3:30 p.m. City planners, historians and architects will discuss what makes communities such as West Dallas and Oak Cliff up-and-coming. Other neighborhoods worldwide will be showcased for their strides to become popular destinations and gems of their communities, then and now.

A tour of the Western Heights Cemetery, sponsored by the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, is from 3-4 p.m. Sunday. Western Heights Cemetery is famous as the final resting place of Clyde Barrow.

And don’t forget, as we mentioned previously, at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, Bike Friendly Oak Cliff  leads a free bike tour chronicling the major historic moments of the Trinity. The ride will navigate several of the adjacent downtown bridges that span the river. As it turns out, the Houston Street Viaduct turns 100 this year.

Did we leave something out? If you know of any other people or businesses in Oak Cliff participating in the festivities, please let us know.

Also check back to our previous Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge post to learn more about the main celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony and other events going on this weekend.

The Spillers Group, which owns Eno’s and is a partner in Oddfellows, has opened Union Bear, a nanobrewery in Uptown.

Wine drinkers are creatures of habit. We tend to drink the same wines and shop in the same places for those wines, which, frankly, doesn’t do much to expand our wine horizons.

This wine cost nine bucks. How do the Italians do it? Their economy is in shambles and the euro is killing the dollar. If this was French wine, it would cost $15 or $18. I’m not complaining, of course. I’m just continually and pleasantly surprised by the quality and value so many Italian wines offer.

The Farnese (purchased, available at Jimmy’s) was exactly what I was hoping for when I bought it. There is soft white fruit in the middle (an English critic described it as “gently fragrant,” which is why Engish wine writing is so much fun), low alcohol (12 percent), not a lot of acid, and a kind of stony finish. In this, it’s a wonderful antidote to all the mass-produced, turpentine-like pinot grigio that we’re told we’re supposed to like and that everyone seems to be making these days. Right, Drew B.?

Pair this not only with seafood, but spicy food. That’s what I did (chicken tamales with green sauce), and it worked wonderfully. And, for those of you keeping track of grape varieties, there is apparently a difference between the trebbiano grape and the grape that is called trebbiano in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The former is more or less ugni blanc, one of my old pals, while the latter is something called bombino bianco. Maybe I can get the Italian Wine Guy to explain the difference.

Grape Expectations, the Twelve Hills Nature Center’s annual fundraiser, is from 7-10 p.m. Saturday at Turner House.

The party features a silent auction and tastings of more than 300 bottles of wine, plus snacks. Tickets cost $35.

Twelve Hills is a 5-acre private nature preserve at 817 Mary Cliff Road. It is open to the public and run by a volunteer board of directors.

We highlight some great local places to get good sandwiches, like this deli’s house-smoked turkey with avocado spread, pepper relish and bacon.

Bakers Megan Wilkes and Mary Gauntt had so much success selling pies online to individuals and restaurants in Oak Cliff over the holidays that they would like to open a storefront in the Bishop Arts District. Specifically, they are considering this Good Space property at 314 N. Bishop, across the street from Green Pet.

With David Spence of Good Space, they are exploring the feasibility of putting a baking kitchen, retail counter, and dining area in the century-old cottage. They’re giving their idea, Emporium Pies, a test run during Oak Cliff Mardi Gras this weekend with a pop-up shop there. Wilkes and Gauntt will feature three pies: the Drunken Nut, which is bourbon pecan with shortbread crust, and the Smooth Operator, which is French silk chocolate in a crispy pretzel crust. The third flavor is a Mardi Gras-themed surprise.

The bakers started with family recipes that they have enhanced, using “the freshest local ingredients with a focus on wholesome, organic cooking,” according to a media release.

Wilkes and Gauntt, below,  also will serve Cultivar Coffee. Their pop-up shop will be open 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and 2-7 p.m. Sunday, offering whole pies and by-the-slice selections.

For more information, contact Megan Wilkes at 972.921.9618 or info@emporiumpies.com.

Oak Cliff: Meet your new crushes.

A new drinking-and-eating spot opened in the Bishop Arts District last week. Whitehall Exchange is in the space at Bishop and Seventh that used to be Cretia’s and the Nodding Dog Coffee Co.

The place got a chic interior makeover that includes blue-and-white patterned wallpaper that matches a long, blue sofa that is the centerpiece of a lounge area along one wall. The place otherwise consists of tall round-top tables and a long bar with dim lighting.

We thought of Whitehall as a wine bar before we went in, but the wine list was disappointing. The by-the-glass selections included a $6 Marcus James merlot. I’m not super knowledgeable about vino, but this label I know. I once bought a bottle in the three-for-$9.99 bin at Fiesta because I needed wine for cooking. It turned out to be a waste of $3.33. Awful stuff.

Whitehall also features a $2 glass of wine. I instructed my partner to order it, but he refused: “It probably tastes terrible.” Probably. We settled on glasses that cost $9 each. Mine was a red blend. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was so-so. He ordered a white wine, also which I can’t remember, but it tasted of grapefruit and I liked it better than what I ordered. At any rate, it cost $18 plus tip for two glasses of OK wine. Not a good deal. The bartender was very friendly, and we liked him, but he didn’t seem to know anything about wine and didn’t offer any suggestions. Also, Whitehall serves all its wine in blue glasses. This couldn’t possibly count as a wine bar, could it? How should one detect the color of chardonnay served in a blue glass?

No, Whitehall Exchange should not be considered a wine bar. It is a bar. They serve tall cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $3, plus better beer and all manner of liquor.

There is a small food menu that looked interesting. A lobster roll is $15, and there are several flat breads for $12. Bar snacks include fried almonds and a selection of olives, which are $6 each.

Whitehall is not exactly what I expected, but I do like the interior update. I would rather stay home and drink a $12 bottle with a friend than order another glass there, but I could see watching a game at the bar, which features two big TVs, with a couple of tallboys and maybe those fried almonds.

Oak Cliff’s El Ranchito and its sister restaurant La Calle Doce want to give back to the community in an effort called Love Your Charity.

For the month of February all three restaurants will be donating part of the proceeds of certain dishes on their menus to the Promise House, as well as, the Genesis Women’s Shelter. The Guiso Norteno at El Ranchito, the Pescado a la Parilla from La Calle Doce in Oak Cliff, and the Enchiladas de Camaron at La Calle Doce in Lakewood are the dishes of choice.

A check presentation will be held in March by owner Laura Sanchez after the money has been collected and totaled. Check www.lacalledoce-dallas.com or www.elranchito-dallas.com for more information.