–Darren Rogers, the Churchill Downs communications director, who had the unenviable task of taking back the winner’s bouquet of roses from Mary West, co-owner of Maximum Security, after the horse’s victory was overturned at the Kentucky Derby Saturday.

(Photos by Huge Galdones for The James Beard Foundation)

Last night, the James Beard Awards, the highest honors in the culinary industry, shone a national spotlight on the South’s restaurant scene, and it was an evening of many triumphs. An unprecedented number of Southern female, African American, Asian American, and LGBTQ chefs took home medals, including Savannah’s Mashama Bailey (Best Chef: Southeast), Oxford, Mississippi’s Vishwesh Bhatt (Best Chef: South), Washington, D.C.’s Tom Cunanan (Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic) and Kwame Onwuachi (Rising Star Chef of the Year), and New Orleans’s Kelly Fields (Outstanding Pastry Chef). A special congratulations to Raleigh’s Ashley Christensen, who won the award for Outstanding Chef in any region. “Our industry is drawing so much strength and momentum and positive change based on a new commitment to open dialogue and vulnerability,” Christensen says, “and I think that this dialogue is especially present and active in the South right now.”

Read our full recap of the night’s Southern winners.

—The South is buzzing again this spring. In the Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham areas, work is nearly complete on two “bee highways,” a network of hives (spanning up to sixty miles) scattered among the cities’ rooftops and corporate campuses. The projects are the work of Bee Downtown, a group that partners with companies to install and maintain hives in an effort to teach the value of honeybees and help revive the pollinators’ declining populations. 

—Visitors to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, this season will have a new way to take in the Smoky Mountain scenery—from 150 feet off the ground. Set to open next Friday, May 17, the Gatlinburg SkyBridge is believed to be the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America, spanning 680 feet and outfitted at various points with dizzying glass floor panels.

The 114-year-old Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, houses centuries of American art, including an array of Southern work spanning the colonial era to the present. This season, though, there will be more to see than ever with a slate of special exhibitions that showcase African-American artists across generations. Now through June 16, visitors can view “New Acquisitions Featuring Work by African American Artists,” which brings together nineteen pieces the museum has added to its permanent collection in recent years, including work by Kara Walker, David Driskell, Leo Twiggs, and Mary Jackson. And beginning later this month through August 18, take in “Black Refractions,” a traveling exhibition from the historic Studio Museum in Harlem. Learn more about the Gibbes’ summer programming and plan a visit of your own.

We recently asked, “What nickname or term of endearment do you use for your mom or grandmother?” Some of your responses:

We call my mother Mama Duck. Maybe she said she was protective of us like a mama duck is of her ducklings. —Barbara S.

I call my grandma Mika. It comes from her originally wanting to be called Mamacita, which she shortened to Mamita and then Mita, but my brother couldn’t pronounce the “t” when he was little, so he called her Mika. And it stuck! —Alexis M.

My name is Lou Ann and my grandchildren call me LouLou. 🥰 —Lou Ann A.

My grandmother only responds to Liane, her given name, or Two Mom. Woe unto any soul that calls her Grandma. —Rhett B.

We called my grandmother Sweetmommy. Because you’ve got your mommy—and then you’ve got your SWEET mommy. One day when I have grandchildren, I definitely plan on being Sweetmommy. —Laura

Mine is Mémé. Have to have the accents, otherwise it's now the all-too-familiar meme. An entirely different construct. —Susan S.

My grandmother was Big Mama. I don’t know why. She wasn’t a big lady! —Susan V.

The General, because no matter what the family crisis, she was always in command —Louis P.

My children call my mother Shugs. —Morgan J.

It is a tradition in my family to call our grandmothers Mommom. My grandmother was Mommom Sal, I'm Mommom Patty, my mother is Great Mommom ... we are all Mommoms.  —Patty B.

My oldest couldn't say “grandmother,” like her older cousin, so she came up with Magger. It’s odd, but it works for us!  —Meg B.

We received many, many responses to this question. See more nicknames here.

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Co-founded by Academy Award winner Geena Davis, the Bentonville Film Festival brings documentaries, shorts, and features from diverse creators across the country to Northwest Arkansas.

Scholar and filmmaker Dr. Henry Louis Gates will be in South Carolina for an engaging discussion on his latest PBS docu-series, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War. Held on the College of Charleston campus, the event and preceding reception are free and open to the public.

A Tennessee tradition dating back to 1941, the Iroquois Steeplechase draws more than 25,000 spectators to Nashville’s Percy Warner Park.

Happy Mother’s Day! And since nothing says “I love you” like a home-cooked meal, here’s a menu of three make-ahead-friendly, classic Southern dishes for the big day. (Hint: grillades and grits!)