CHEFS FOR FARMERS

CELEBRATE THE HARDWORKING PEOPLE who grow and cook your food at Chefs for Farmers, Nov. 2-4.

These for-profit events aim to promote the benefits of local chefs working with local/ organic farmers. It started as a long-table dinner for 125 people in 2010.

Since then, it has grown into a nationally recognized three-day event that draws thousands of people.

This year’s festival will honor two restaurant-industry professionals with Oak Cliff ties, Kevin Lee Hitchings and Yvaun Olsen.

Hitchings lives in our neighborhood and is a server at Billy Can Can in Victory Park. Olsen works for Oak Cliff-based Chefs’ Produce, where she’s been in sales for over 27 years.

Oak Cliff chefs also will be involved: Luis Olvera of Trompo, Ryan Olmos of Cibo Divino and David Uygur of Lucia.

The weekend starts with Chef Dean Fearing’s “fall harvest backyard fest” at the Ritz Carlton Friday night. Saturday brings a streetfood night market in Victory Park. And the main event, with bites from more than 50 farmers and chefs, is from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, at Dallas Heritage Village.

Chefs for Farmers’ October charity dinner, Friends of the Festival, raised funds for Youth with Faces, a nonprofit that “gives youth in the juvenile justice system a second chance to be more than a faceless statistic.” chefsforfarmers.com