Dumplin's & Dancin'
CHEFS & FACULTY
RESIDENT CHEFS
Kristin Smith
The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery
Kristin is the chef, owener, and farmer of The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery, a farm-to-table Appalachian restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. Chef Smith is a celebrated foodways evangelist for Southeastern Kentucky that works with area farmers to create a sustainable, supportive economy. Following her work in rural China, she returned home to take over her family’s sixth-generation cattle farm, Faulkner Bent Farm, in 2009 and has been living and working in Appalachia ever since.
Ouita Michel
Holly Hill & Co.
Ouita is a six-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee, including nominations for Outstanding Restaurateur and Best Chef Southeast. Michel and her restaurants are regularly featured in local and national media, such as the New York Times, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Food Network, and the Cooking Channel. She was a guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef series. She lives in Midway, Kentucky, adjacent to her restaurant, Holly Hill Inn.
KEYNOTE PRESENTER & DUMPLIN' MAKER
Sheri Castle
Award-Winning Food Writer and Media Host
Sheri Castle is the host of The Key Ingredient, an Emmy-winning cooking show from PBS. She is also an award-winning professional food writer, recipe developer, and cooking teacher known for melding stories, humor, and culinary expertise. She’s authored a tall stack of cookbooks and her writing and recipes appear regularly in national publications. In 2024 the Southern Foodways Alliance presented Sheri with their Keeper of the Flame Award given to a foodways tradition bearer of note. The SFA also named her one of 20 Living Legends of Southern Food, calling her The Storyteller. Sheri grew up in Watauga County, NC in her beloved Blue Ridge Mountains and now lives near Chapel Hill, NC.
VISITING CHEFS
Alex Green
Mileta
Alex Green is the Executive Chef at Mileta, a new Lexington restaurant offering contemporary Italian-inspired cuisine with global influences. A Kentucky native, Green’s passion for cooking began in childhood and led him to earn a degree in Nutrition and Food Management from Murray State University before pursuing culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. His career includes opening the acclaimed Josephine Estelle in New Orleans, serving as chef de cuisine at Hog & Hominy in Memphis, and leading kitchens for Morrison Healthcare and Frontier Nursing University. In 2023, he joined Mileta’s opening team, where he oversees menu development, hiring, budgeting, and day-to-day operations. Green brings his inventive approach to Lexington’s dining scene, dedicated to crafting memorable meals that connect people through food. Outside the kitchen, he enjoys time with his wife, Marli, and their three cats, along with hobbies like pottery, restoring vintage knives, and mixing cocktails.
Amy & Lisa Bourque
Acres of Grace Farm
Amy and Lisa Bourque are the owners of Acres of Grace Farm where they create baked goods and Appalachian-inspired farm-to-table dinner menus.
Food is an emotional outlet for Lisa and how she shows love, as did her grandmother. Some of their best memories are centered around her kitchen table and their goal is to pass these traditions on to the community.
Babz Goldman Nartowicz
Babz Bistro
A product of the Ohio River Valley, Babz Goldman Nartowicz is proud to call the town of Maysville, Kentucky home. She can be found at the end of the Simon Kenton Bridge with her husband Alex, cooking up the flavors of the seasons and local farms in their gardenside food truck, Babz Bistro. The coolest backyard vibes around are in this creative bistro-on-wheels concept serving up Southern-fused dishes in a tranquil garden. Her recipes and adventures are on full display weekly in her food column Babz Bites featured in the Maysville Ledger Independent as well as Seasons magazine.
SUPPORTING PRESENTERS
Bill Best
Bill Best keeps almost 700 varieties of heirloom bean seeds at the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, which is at his farm in the Knobs country of Madison County just outside of Berea. He’s also continuing a way of life Appalachian farmers have handed down for generations: cultivating an appreciation for the tenderness and fresh flavor of favorite home-grown fruits and vegetables, teaching the process of producing and saving seeds from one season to plant in the next, and engaging the support of a like-minded community. You might recognize him as a long-time grower of ripe, juicy heirloom tomatoes, which he sells at farmers markets in Lexington and Berea. Best is the author of “Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste: Heirloom Seed Savers in Appalachia”.
Blue Ridge Gathering
Blue Ridge Gathering is a Knoxville-based neo-traditional old time trio. Cody Bauer, Jessica Watson, and Duck Ryan combine traditional old time music with strong bluegrass and Celtic influences, alongside an energetic and engaging stage presence. Their repertoire includes original songs and tunes as well as covers of artists such as Reeltime Travelers, Gillian Welch, and Joe Troop, plus a wealth of old time fiddle tunes. Blue Ridge Gathering took 1st place in the Neo-Traditional Band Competition (2024) at the Appalachian Stringband Festival (Clifftop), and received Best Original Song (2023) and Best Original Tune (2024) at Clifftop. In June 2025, Blue Ridge Gathering released their self-titled six-song EP, three of which are originals. With a unique ability to fill sonic space with only three instruments, a BRG show is always a memorable experience.
Will Bowling
Residing in Oneida, Kentucky, Will Bowling is a Clay County square caller in the style of the Carcassonne and Pine Mountain communities of southeastern Kentucky. Under the tutelage of Charlie Walker and Peter Rodgers, Bowling progressed from dancer to caller, learning the distinct structure and progression Carcassonne style. Now the regular caller at the Carcassonne Community Center, Bowling has called dances hosted by Appalshop, Hindman Settlement School, and other community centers and gatherings around eastern Kentucky.
Allison Duvall
Allison Duvall is a champion Irish dancer, certified Irish dance teacher, and choreographer, and director of the McTeggart School of Irish Dance location in Lexington, KY (www.kyirishdancers.org). She specializes in Irish traditional and modern step dancing, ceili dancing, and modern figure choreographies, as well as set dancing and sean-nós, or “old-style,” Irish dancing.
Jonathan Medlock
Jonathan Medlock is the general manager at The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery in Corbin, KY where, among other things, he crafts delicious libations for patrons.
Jonathan Piercy
Jonathan Piercy grew up in the foothills of eastern Kentucky, where his love of food began at age five with the discovery that he could change the thickness of oatmeal just by adjusting the water.
Jonathan’s culinary interests range from Appalachian and Kentucky traditions to Spanish cuisine, Cajun and Creole flavors, and craft beer and cocktails. Now retired from his career as a physician, he lives in Hazard, KY with his wife, Tamara, and a lively menagerie of pets. When not in the kitchen, he enjoys making music with his ukulele project, Jonathan and his Four-String Fiasco.
Jenny Williams
Jenny Williams has been teaching writing and reading at Hazard Community and Technical College since 1992. The youngest of six siblings, all of whom still live in Hazard, Jenny is deeply rooted in the community. She enjoys hiking and being outdoors, and she is the faculty advisor for the HCTC LGBTQ+ Alliance Club. For many years, she co-hosted What’s Cookin’ Now! on WMMT, a live radio cooking show out of Appalshop, which transitioned to a podcast as a partnership with Hindman Settlement School. She is passionate about equity, food, art, the environment, and education, and believes that these things are irrevocably linked.
Sarah Kate Morgan
Born in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, and now based in Hindman, Kentucky, Sarah Kate Morgan is a nationally recognized mountain dulcimer player, singer, and songwriter whose artistry bridges deep Appalachian roots with fresh, genre-spanning creativity. Influenced by tradition-bearers like Jean Ritchie yet unafraid to chart new ground, Sarah Kate has developed a distinctive style marked by dexterity, clarity, and emotional depth. Her crystalline, roots-infused vocals and poetic songwriting reflect the highs and lows of Appalachian life, and she has performed with artists including Tyler Childers, Amethyst Kiah, and Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones.
