Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and More at the 2025 South Beach Wine & Food Festival: PHOTOS

This year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival was as star-studded as it was delicious.

Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Duff Goldman, Kardea Brown and other big names from the food world gathered in Miami for SOBEWFF, from Thursday, Feb. 20, to Sunday, Feb. 23. 

In addition to bringing together fan-favorite Food Network stars, the festival serves a good cause. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Florida International University (FIU) and its students preparing to work in the hospitality industry. Past years have already raised more than $40 million total for FIU.

Here were some of the highlights from the four-day festival, which featured more than 105 events.

Ray hosted Mike’s Amazing Burger Bash on Feb. 20, telling PEOPLE: “I love the concept of asking the world’s greatest chefs to come and put their work on a bun.” She added of the festival, “I come here because I love the kids and pushing all of their lives forward. For over 20 years, I come here out of loyalty. I think that’s a big part of life.”

The meaty showdown saw Skinny Louie taking the Schweid & Sons Very Best Burger Award, and La Birra Bar winning both the Mike’s Amazing People’s Choice Award and the Idaho Potato Best Side Dish Award.

Past Tournament of Champions winners Brooke Williamson, Maneet Chauhan, Tiffani Faison, and Mei Lin each led teams of six chefs who faced off in a culinary competition on Friday, Feb. 21. While each group served up delectable dishes, Chauhan took top honors.

Host Fieri called the event “really special,” telling PEOPLE, “This is probably going to be one of the greatest culinary moments in South Beach.”

Hunter Fieri cohosted a celebrity chef pickleball tournament with fiancée (and pickleball pro) Tara Bernstein on Saturday, Feb. 22.

Speaking with PEOPLE at the festival, Guy shared that the engaged couple is struggling to shorten the guest list for their upcoming wedding at his Northern California home later this year.

“They’re both such big personalities, and they both have a lot of friends,” the proud dad said. “I mean, that’s the toughest thing. [How] those two [will] whittle it down to 350. I have no clue.”

Flay was among the Food Network stars who offered cooking demonstrations at the festival’s marquee event, the Grand Tasting Village, which included oceanside tastings from 30 South Florida restaurants.

The Fab Five’s culinary expert Antoni Porowski hosted a drag brunch with The View’s Ana Navarro — and her dog ChaCha — on Saturday afternoon.  The Queer Eye star then appeared at Grand Tasting Village for a cooking demo.

Tyler Florence treated grilling enthusiasts to Masters of Fire, a celebration of outdoor cooking, Saturday afternoon.

“When I do my one-man show, I don’t rehearse,” Ace of Cakes star and Kids Baking Championship cohost Goldman told PEOPLE before hosting “A Duff Goldman Late Night Dessert Party & One Man Show” Saturday. “I don’t prepare. I get onstage and whatever comes out of my mouth, comes out of my mouth. Because when you do it like that, that’s what keeps it fresh. That’s what keeps it sort of exciting and engaging.” 

“If you’re saying something that you’ve memorized, unless you’re Robert De Niro, you’re going to look like you’re acting,” he added. “And it just puts a layer, I think, between you and the audience where if I get out there, and I have no idea what I’m going to talk about and then I just start talking, it turns into an honest conversation. I find that that’s when people really connect.”

MasterChef judge Aarón Sánchez hosted Tacos & Tequila, a margarita-fueled gathering where chefs put various spins on the beloved Mexican dish.

Brown attended Thursday’s Alex vs. Miami, hosted by Alex Guarnaschelli and Eric Adjepong, before offering crispy creations at a fried chicken and champagne affair on Saturday night. 

Goldman, her Kids Baking Championship cohost, told PEOPLE of the Delicious Miss Brown host, “I think the kids can really sense that she is as real as it gets and is safe and lovely and wonderful, and she’s got a really amazing sort of point of view on pastry, which is totally different than mine.”

Eva Longoria, joined by Navarro, offered a cooking demo at Sunday’s Grand Tasting Village. Longoria also gave a preview of her new show Searching for Spain, in which the actress discovers innovative Spanish cuisines, breaks bread with long-lost relatives and gives a tour of her Marbella home.