SPRINGFIELD –  The public is invited to attend Prairie Heart Institute’s (PHI) “Prairie Heart Fair,” on Saturday, February 13 at White Oaks Mall. Celebrity Chef and author Art Smith will be the special guest and conduct a cooking demonstration using heart healthy foods at 11 a.m. in the mall’s center court near the Macy’s wing.

Those interested in securing a reserved seat for the cooking demonstration should visit www.prairieheart.com prior to February 5, and take the seven minute heart risk assessment. The first 100 people to complete the assessment will be mailed two tickets to the event, which will allow access to the reserved seating area near the stage. There will also be ample room on the upper and lower levels of the mall for the public to view the cooking demonstration.

From 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., staff from PHI at St. John’s Hospital will be offering free health screenings and valuable information on warning signs of a heart attack. The “Prairie Heart Fair” is part of PHI’s celebration of National Heart Month.

As executive chef and co-owner of Table fifty-two and Art and Soul restaurants, Art Smith has received the culinary profession's highest awards and has cooked for some of the world's most famous celebrities. In 1997, Smith became the personal, day-to-day chef to Oprah Winfrey, a position that lasted ten years.

About Art Smith

Smith now coordinates and cooks for the headline-grabbing special events that Ms. Winfrey hosts all around the world. A contributing editor to O, the Oprah Magazine, Smith is also the author of three award-winning cookbooks: Back to the Table; Kitchen Life: Real Food for Real Families; and Back to the Family. Most recently he contributed recipes and cooking advice to The Spectrum, the newest book by ground-breaking cardiologist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Dean Ornish. Smith has made regular television appearances on programs such as Iron Chef America, The Today Show and Oprah in addition to having served as a Williams-Sonoma culinary instructor and the special events chef for Martha Stewart Living magazine. In 2003 he founded Common Threads, a non-profit organization that teaches children about diversity and tolerance through the world's great cultures.