BENEFITS : Helping Hands Will Be Busy With Applause Saturday

Saturday will see a couple of competing musical benefits in Orange County--one with a country flavor, one with a rock and folk theme.

Hollywood Hoedown at Knott’s Berry Farm is a Western-themed event whose entertainment roster includes Kyle Waites and the Confederacy, Wylie and the Wild West Show, the Apple Dumpling Child Cloggers and 1880 Gun Fighters (a stunt show team).

Other attractions include Western dance lessons, a fried chicken picnic lunch (included with the ticket price) and a silent auction of celebrity items, including autographed books and scripts (an “Out of Africa” script signed by director Sydney Pollack, for example). Ticket holders will also have access to the theme park. Announced celebrity attendees include Shirley Jones, Lauren Tewes and Linda Blair.

The event is a benefit for Florence Crittenton Services of Orange County, a nonprofit agency providing residential treatment services for troubled adolescent girls and abused, neglected and homeless babies and children.

The agency “wanted to do a charity event that would appeal to a wide range of people,” said Sue Berry, one of the producers of the event. “It’s more a celebrity-meets-the-Western sort of thing.”

Also on Saturday, the Newport Roadhouse in Costa Mesa will be the site of Foodstock, the second in what is planned as a series of benefit concerts for the Orange-based Food Distribution Center, a private nonprofit group that distributes 700,000 pounds of food each month to county agencies serving the needy.

The bill for Saturday’s concerts includes folk-oriented acts Carol Martini and Flood, alternative rockers Volkwood Ghost and Urban Sprawl, and hard rock band Potatoes.

Deana Weaver, communications coordinator for the Food Distribution Center, said the first concert three months ago featured 15 bands and lasted 12 hours. This time around, the number of bands has been cut to six and the length of the show to eight hours. Another concert, with all new bands, is planned every three months.

What: Hollywood Hoedown, Western-themed benefit.

When: Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Where: Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park.

Whereabouts: Take the Beach Boulevard exit from the San Diego (405) Freeway and go north, or from the Riverside (91) Freeway and go south. The event will be in the Gold Rush Camp, on the east side of Beach Boulevard near Independence Hall.

Wherewithal: $50 for adults, $25 for children ages 3 to 11. Children under 3 are free.

Where to Call: (714) 680-8200.

What: Foodstock benefit concert.

When: Saturday, Sept. 26, from noon to 8 p.m.

Where: Newport Roadhouse, 1700 Placentia Ave., Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: From the Newport (55) Freeway, take 17th Street west to Placentia Avenue. The club is on the right, at the corner.

Wherewithal: $5 or five cans of food.

Where to Call: (714) 771-1343.