The Root’s 2nd Annual Pie Bake-Off is this Saturday, April 16th at 4:30 p.m. Participants are asked to bake their best traditional pie for judges and to bring copies of the recipe to swap with other bakers.

I’ll be helping out with the judging this year, along with the Arkansas Literary Festival speaker Harrison Scott Key, baker extraordinaire Zara Abbasi Wilkerson, and the Democrat-Gazette’s Eric Harrison. We’ll be awarding five Blue Ribbons and one Best-in-Show.

Pre-registration is appreciated but not required. To do so, just email: theroot@therootcafe.com for more information.

Admission is free for the contest, and The Root will have beer and other light refreshments for purchase during the event.

You may have also noticed some changes in regards to expansion are going on over at The Root. Says co-owner Corri Sundell, “Four shipping containers have been installed (out of eight total). They will become the new dining room (visible from Main Street) and one in back that will be a new walk-in cooler. The other four will be ready in about a month, and those will become a new kitchen and an office. We’ll be adding a second bathroom as well. Once the expansion is finished, The Root will be doing dinner four nights a week and also expanding our catering, baking, and canning and food preservation programs. In the meantime, we’re doing dinner twice a month–a ticketed prix-fixe dinner the 2nd Friday of each month and a counter dinner every 4th Friday as part of the new neighborhood event SoMa 4th Fridays.”