Chris Shepherd’s Southern Smoke Festival Brings Out Celebrity Chefs For Record-Breaking, Food-Fueled Weekend | Eater Houston

"A two-day philanthropic food-and-drink festival led by Houston’s James Beard–winning chef Chris Shepherd that returned for its seventh year, drawing nearly 4,000 attendees and about 60 chefs to Downtown. The event combined high-profile fundraising with a block-party atmosphere—VIP experiences, a large general-admission crowd, live music and DJs, and chefs offering unlimited bite-sized creations—and raised $1.8 million for the festival’s anchoring nonprofit, which issues emergency-relief grants and funds no-cost mental-health counseling for food and beverage workers across the U.S." - Brittany Britto Garley