Delta Magazine November/December 2023 by Delta Magazine

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Delta

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3

DELTA MAGAZINE

the

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

y a d i Hol issue

your home for the

HOLIDAYS

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Publisher: J. Scott Coopwood Editor in Chief: Cindy Coopwood Managing Editor: Pam Parker Director of Special Projects: Kelli Williams Contributing Editors: Maude Schuyler Clay, Lea Margaret Hamilton, Jim “Fish” Michie, Brantley Snipes, Roger Stolle Digital Editor: Phil Schank Consultant: Samir Husni, Ph.D. Graphic Designers: Sandra Goff, Maggi Mosco Copy Editor: Suzanne Durfey Contributing Writers: Jim Beaugez, Karen Brasher, Doc Gary, Mary-Kathryn Herrington, Sherry Lucas, Leanna Miller, Neil White, Kelli Williams, Wade Wineman Photography: David Ammon, Austin Britt, Rory Doyle, Anna Satterfield Account Executives: Joy Bateman, Melanie Dupree, Cristen Hemmins, Kristy Kitchings, Wendy Mize, Ann Nestler, Cadey True Circulation: Lyndsi Naron Accounting Manager: Holly Tharp POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to Delta Magazine, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732

ADVERTISING: For advertising information, please call (662) 843-2700 Delta Magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials or photos and in general does not return them to sender. Photography obtained for editorial usage is owned by Delta Magazine and may not be released for commercial use such as in advertisements and may not be purchased from the magazine for any reason. All editorial and advertising information is taken from sources considered to be authoritative, but the publication cannot guarantee their accuracy. Neither that information nor any opinion expressed on the pages of Delta Magazine in any way constitutes a solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities mentioned. No material in Delta Magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publication. Delta Magazine is published bimonthly by Coopwood Magazines, Inc., 125 South Court St., Cleveland, MS 38732-2626. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, MS and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Delta Magazine, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732-0117. Delta Magazine (USPS#022-954)

Delta Magazine is published six times a year by Coopwood Magazines, Inc. EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE ADDRESSES: Mailing Address: PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732 Shipping Address: 125 South Court Street, Cleveland, MS 38732 E-mail: publisher@deltamagazine.com editor@deltamagazine.com

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from the publisher

Remembering Hank

TOM BECK

There will never be another Hank Burdine. As we were going to press with our September/October edition, we lost our friend and Delta Magazine Contributing Editor, Hank Burdine. However, Hank was much more than that—he was family to us having been a part of this literary venture from day one after being recruited by former Editor-InChief Melissa Townsend, who brought much greatness to this publication during her watch and that included Hank. Hank was a co-conspirator in all of our Delta Magazine ventures. He always brought his own brand of stories, experiences, and ideas to the table. They sometimes seemed outrageous. Reenacting a bear hunt of long ago? A story about a remnant of a wall in Greenville? A feature on a fashion shoot in a Cypress swamp? Somehow, they all worked. Hank’s writings and interests put him on the radar of foodies and film crews, radio shows, documentarians, and more. From a French documentary about the Delta, to the Food Channel’s Andrew Zimmern, to the Netflix show Somebody Feed Phil, and more, Hank always delivered. “What are you up to this morning?” I asked Hank early one December morning over a scratchy cell phone signal. “I’m out in the middle of the Mississippi River with a Japanese film crew and they don’t understand a word I’m saying, and I don’t understand a word they’re saying but somehow we’re working it out!” That was Hank. An author, avid outdoorsman, grill master, equestrian, sometime guitar strummer and singer, occasional wedding officiant, and public speaker, his talents were many. However, Hanks love for and pride in his children, Matthew, Alden, and Milo, and his two young granddaughters was utmost along with his everlasting adoration of his late wife, Sallie. Hank leaves a void that will never be filled in our region of Mississippi and we are better for having known him. At Hank’s passing, hundreds of posts were made on social media honoring him and sharing anecdotes and memories by people from across the country. We’ve shared a few below along with photos of Hank just being Hank—the man we will forever love and miss. I’ll leave you with this quote from Hank: “I’ve been here, I’ve been there, I’ve been some of everywhere, but I sho’ am glad I call the Delta my home, from the lobby of the Peabody Hotel to Catfish Row…yeah baby!” DM

Scott Coopwood Publisher @scottcoopwood1 | publisher@deltamagazine.com

“RACONTEUR best described my friend, the late Hank Burdine. His knowledge of all things Mississippi Delta—the river, its people, its food, and its music—were unequalled. Once mic’d: climb in, buckle up, hang on, while he took us ﬂying pedal-to-the-metal down dirt roads long ago lost in time. Like when he described origins of the Mississippi Delta Blues. “Learned more in ﬁrst eight minutes of that episode than an entire lifetime of history classes,” wrote one listener. We met a few years ago at Doe’s Eat Place in my hometown. He shed fresh light on the place I’ve called home my entire life.” – Ramsey Russell, GetDucks.com founder, Duck Season Somewhere podcast

“If the Mississippi Delta were a person, Hank Burdine is it! The master of playing spoons, storytelling, making up the most amazing Delta words that only Hank could come up with, and living life to the fullest! He was a part of almost all of my favorite childhood memories and took me to some of my 10 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

favorite places! I am blessed to be able to say that Hank Burdine was a major part of my life and helped shape me into the woman I am today. The world will never be the same without him, but I’m grateful I knew a world with him! Hank and Sallie are ﬁnally reunited and will be able to continue the most beautiful love story for eternity. Rest in peace Uncle Hank, thank you for everything! I love you and will miss you forever.” – Catharine Hammett Harris, Greenville native and longtime friend

“Delta son, raconteur, rascal baiter, heavy road builder, river rat, Uncle to many, friend to even more, lover of fair ladies, green headed ducks, “little brown dogs” and hard-headed horses. Thank you, Uncle Hank, for the late nights and early mornings. I know that you are ﬁnally at home with your one great woman and your one great dog.” – Stewart Robinson, duck-hunting guide and friend

from the editor

Oh Christmas Tree

There are two types of people in this world

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Coopwood family! Scott, Travis, Thomas, Cindy and Jordan.

A ROUND-UP OF OUR 2023 COVERS

JULY/AUGUST 2023

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$5.95US

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1. January/February, Winter Soups, photo by Rory Doyle 2. March/April, Wedding Issue, Lucy Baird Photography 3. May/June, Dining in the Delta, photo by Poppy P 4. July/August, Hot Dog Bar, photo by Rory Doyle 5. September/October, Dove Hunt, photo by Rory Doyle 6. November/December, Holiday Issue, photo by Austin Britt

and the holidays do a great job of defining them. There are the real Christmas tree people, and the artificial Christmas tree people. And yes—I’m a real tree person. Then there are those (some are friends of mine) who take that to another level, and go out and cut down their unformed, unwieldy trees that have to be anchored with fishing line to the window sill to keep from falling over. This may be a subtype of person. They know who they are. When I grew up, my family always had a real tree, but I feel I must qualify that by saying it often gave Charlie Brown’s tree a run for it’s money. Did we recognize this at the time? Absolutely not. My brother, sister, and I have memories of our Christmases being absolutely magical with a little cedar tree my dad could chop down in one fell swoop. Although I love my real trees—Fraser firs for us—there’s a fleeting thought that works its way into the back of my mind pretty much every year as Christmas approaches. Fleeting, but still there. Should we consider getting a faux tree? I quickly squelch the thought, overcoming that moment of weakness. However, last year, one of my best friends who “has to use artificial trees and greenery due to allergies” got a new faux tree that was beautiful. And it stores easily. And is pre-lit. And—it’s on wheels. It took her about thirty minutes to assemble, roll in, switch on the lights, throw on some ornaments, and invite me over for a glass of wine. She knows who she is too. Said friend is also a master at keeping things simple and manageable. But what’s the Our 2021 tree lights proved to be very temperamental. Pro tip: Place the angel topper, fun in that? If I wasn’t overplanning, a gift from my mother the very first Christmas we overworking, and overcommitting myself— were married, on the top before it goes up! the holidays just wouldn’t be the same. Either way, I just can’t let go of my real tree, and at this point in my life it’s still the bigger, the better. The twelve-foot ceilings in our house demand it, for heaven’s sake. It is quite an undertaking that starts every year with the age-old question, “where is the Christmas tree stand?” and it ends with fervent prayers about the lights, after debating about whether it’s worth it to try to use last year’s strands, then deciding to go ahead and try them, then realizing that you made the wise decision to throw them all away last year, because it’s not worth it, and then finding out that Walmart is sold out. These are traditions I cherish. Lighting debacles have inspired very un-holidayish attitudes in recent years. (see photo) In spite of these ramblings, I must admit that as much work as it is, nothing makes me happier than to see our huge Christmas tree every year. Loaded with all the same ornaments—most handmade by my children when they were young, or sentimental gifts that each have a story. It is a walk down memory lane that I treasure every year. This issue will surely put you in the holiday spirit! From a cozy cabin ready for Thanksgiving, to an amazing Santa collection, to scrumptious Christmas cookies, you will be immersed in the celebrations of the season. And we bring you all the Delta has to offer during the holidays, with special advertising sections by town. I urge you to use it as a holiday event planner and shopping guide. It’s hard to grasp how quickly this year has flown by, and as with every year there have been highs and lows. We experienced a great loss with the passing of Hank Burdine, who was a huge part of this publication from the very beginning. No one loved the Delta more than Hank, and no one told our stories better. Words cannot adequately describe how much we will miss his presence and his voice as we forge ahead. On a positive note, we also reached an important milestone in 2023 as we celebrated our twentieth anniversary, and it is with gratitude to every reader, advertiser, and our staff, that we plan to continue on for twenty more. From all of us at Delta Magazine, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and the happiest New Year! DM

Cindy Coopwood Editor

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contents NOVEMBER/DECEMBER Volume 21 No. 3

RORY DOYLE

departments

52 BOOKS Reviews of new releases and what Deltans are reading now

62 HOLIDAY SHOPPING GIFT GUIDE: AUSTIN BRITT

Hostess gifts, teacher gifts and ideas for him and her

82 70 ART

AUSTIN BRITT Jars of clay and a peaceful heart

76 MUSIC

130

TIM LEE How he helped put Mississippi on the map for indie rock

RORY DOYLE

130 HOMES

A TRUE TREASURE From humble cabin to the perfect getaway CHRISTMAS IN CLARKSDALE Tickled pink and layered with love, page 144

158 COOKIE FOOD TIME

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118

features

82 A Santa Sickness

Holiday joy fills a Hollandale home

98 The Iconic Red Ball The storied roots of MSU’s famed cheese 106 Q & A with Keith Smythe Meacham and Will Hunt Lewis

The inescapable influence of the Delta

118 Title Fight

Michael Farris Smith hits Hollywood with Rumble Through the Dark

KEN KOCHEY

ANNA SATTERFIELD

Five cookie recipes to try this holiday season

170 HISTORY

EAST OF THE DELTA The Loess Bluff Hills

in every issue 20 Letters 28 On the Road Where we’ve been, where we’re going next

34 Off the Beaten Path Roaming the real and rustic Delta

40 Hot Topics 176 Events 194 Delta Seen 200 The Final Word by Hobson ‘Doc’ Gary

ON THE COVER: Festive tree decked out for the holidays in the Bruton home in Hollandale, Mississippi. Photo by Austin Britt. 16 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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T H E M AU D E L L

CO O P E R H O O P S

THE HONEY

VAN ATKINS EXCLUSIVES CO O P E R H O O P S

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M Y FAVO R I T E BA ND

VIVIAN

You know she’s worth it!

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LETTERS can get their hands on. I wish I had captured my stoic dad pausing to gather his emotions while reading what was so beautifully written by Cal Trout about his baby girl and our family. That you and Cal considered my personal story one worth writing about is a supreme honor. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to cover it. Grace Sturdivant Ridgeland, Mississippi

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023

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Annual Outdoor & Hunting Issue A Delta Hunting Lodge Ready for Fall, Family, and Friends $5.95US

Fall Recipe ROUNDUP 2023 DELTA DOG Photo Contest Winners

scan to PLAN

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Congratulations are in order for the 20th Anniversary Issue of Delta Magazine. A milestone that has done nothing but improve since day one. The good that this magazine does for an area like the Mississippi Delta is immeasurable. I look forward to each edition of Delta, and the most important facet of this magazine is that it tethers me to the land and people of my early life. I have lifelong friends in the Delta and Delta Magazine is the catalyst that I count on to keep abreast of what’s happening there. I’m sure many other former residents of the Delta would agree. Keep up the good work!

I am writing to thank you for Delta Magazine’s sponsorship and loyal support of the USA International Ballet Company. The 12th competition proved to be a huge success, attracting top ballet dancers from over twenty nations. I appreciate your help with marketing to help us get the word out to the Delta area about this amazing event. Mona Nicholas USA International Ballet Company Jackson, Mississippi EASY HERBED DIP This dip is so simple that it really doesn’t require measurements. Just add all herbs and seasonings to taste—plus it’s easily tailored to different dishes and cuisines by simply changing the herbs as desired.

Jim “Fish” Michie Franklin, Tennessee

1 cup Greek yogurt ½ cup feta cheese chopped herbs salt to taste

coarse black pepper, to taste finely minced garlic lemon juice olive oil, to drizzle

Simply blend the Greek yogurt and feta cheese with a fork (or a handheld mixer if you want a smoother consistency). Stir in a generous amount of the chopped herbs of your choice—we used oregano and dill. Then add the freshly ground black pepper, minced garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt to taste. After mixing the first seven ingredients together, finish it with a generous pour of olive oil, and an additional sprinkle of herbs and pepper on top.

ART

Hobbs’s studio workspace boasts a colorful conglomeration of supplies and materials.

Telling Tales, Layer by Layer The intricate and whimsical works of artist Blair Hobbs explore the art of story telling—with art

BY SUSAN MARQUEZ • PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIMOTHY IVY

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the artwork of Blair Hobbs, it’s as if a magical world is unfolding on the canvas. At ﬁrst glance, one takes in the colorful paintings on an aesthetic level, but soon follows the realization that there is much more to see. Each unique piece reveals layers that appear the longer one gazes at it. The work is vivid, whimsical, and provocative. Beautiful for sure but this beauty is often juxtaposed with a dark side hidden in plain sight. Hobbs’s work is as interesting as the artist herself, with each piece telling a story, sometimes in images only, but often with written words incorporated into the design.

studio filled with all kinds of art supplies. She always encouraged me.” While she loved art, Hobbs decided to focus on creative writing in college, with art as a minor. Hobbs’s artistic style developed organically. “In grad school, I wrote a manuscript of poetry. Art helped me study.” During this time she also became interested in feminism. As her individual style was emerging, she began incorporating different, everyday materials, such as sequins and crafting supplies, into her creations. “I love using ribbons, broken Christmas ornaments, and other sparkly things,” she explains. “I try to honor women’s ‘hobby’ art by turning it into fine art. Additionally, while teaching ekphrastic poetry (a creative way of It makes sense that her works tell a story. describing art with verse), Blair spends a lot of Hobbs is also a writer, having earned a master of time in museums. arts in creative writing from Hollins University Hobbs lives in Oxford with her husband, and a master of fine arts in poetry from the John T. Edge, and their son, Jess. Edge is a University of Michigan. She is currently a senior storyteller in another realm—as founder of the lecturer at the University of Mississippi, where Southern Foodways Alliance and the Mississippi she teaches creative writing. So, it stands to Lab, the renowned author and host of the reason that the rich imagery in Hobbs’s creations television show TrueSouth often tells his tales often carry a narrative, making each work even Dealt a Card on Breast Lace through food. The family lives in a house more distinct. situated on an eighth of an acre. While it may be small, the home Born in Oxford, Hobbs grew up in Auburn, Alabama, where her has two studios, one for both John T. and Blair, with a serene garden mother, Marleah Hobbs, was an art professor. “I’ve been making art that separates them. for as long as I can remember,” she says. “My mama had a great DELTA MAGAZINE 2023 | 51

Thank you so much for the generous piece about my work in the July/August issue of Delta Magazine. I truly appreciate the honor of your time and attention. Also, thank you for publishing such a great platform for Mississippians! Blair Hobbs-Edge Oxford, Mississippi

#Visitvicksburg @VisitVicksburg VISITVICKSBURG.COM

I am confident that Delta Magazine has hit circulation records as every member of my family has hoarded every copy of the September/October issue they

Tip Other hearty veggies such as Brussels sprouts or broccoli would also be delicious prepared this way.

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The September/October issue has to be one of my all-time favorites! I knew when I saw all the amazing recipes I wanted to try every one. So far, the chocolate chip cookie and the crispy roasted carrots are my favorite. And now, after seeing the article, I really want some Double B Boots. I was also interested to read about Sloan Sanders and her competitive shooting. What a great story! I continue to be amazed at the great job y’all do putting out such a quality magazine about the Delta. It’s my favorite place to visit. Congratulations on twenty years—it seems to just get better and better. Anna Goff Madison, Mississippi

SEND COMMENTS AND LETTERS TO: editor@deltamagazine.com or Delta Magazine, PO Box 117,Cleveland, MS 38732

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Y’all Said

SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS @deltamagazine

We Asked... Thanksgiving’s coming and the debate rages on…is it dressing or stuffing for your family? And who in your family always make it?

Definitely dressing—served in the same CorningWare dish year after year. Always made by my mom, Betty Petty! – Tena Smith Dressing for the Colbert Clan! – Trish Fleming Dressing. – John Ross Cornbread dressing. I always make it. – Debra Cole Dressing! – Donna Koerth Dressing!! I do. – Linda Peaster It’s oyster stuffing here in PA and it’s made by my lovely wife every year! – John Whiteside

From “Yes ma’am” to “Bless your heart” what’s your favorite Southern saying and why? “I’m fixing to.” – Allen Tindle “Over yonder.” – Jerry Williams “If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.” – Michael J. Carr “Well, I declare.” – Sharen Garner “Kiss my grits!” – John Whiteside “Cut off the lights.” I asked a 4th grade student in my Yosemite Elementary School in California in 1978. The student just sat there puzzled by the question and didn’t move. I was equally confused by his not doing what I asked. Then it hit me—if I had said “turn off the lights” he would have understood the Southern expression immediately! – Richard Witty “If wishes were horses, all beggars could ride.” – Tijuana Buchanan “That dog don’t hunt.” “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” “Cattywampus”—My mother-in-law said this all the time. “Pitching a hissy fit!” Probably the best: “Grinning like a possum eating a prickly pear!” – Connie Lancaster DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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RESIDENTIAL | COMMERICAL

Building the Best Construction Experience in Oxford 662-893-4606 | www.rka.build 22 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

OXFORD MEMPHIS PICKWICK

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Flights of Fancy

PHOTO BY RORY DOYLE

Delta skies won’t be empty for long as the annual waterfowl migration along the Mississippi Flyway will soon begin. Eager hunters and flooded fields such as this one in Glen Allen, await flights of all manner of ducks, geese, and other waterfowl to make their annual trip south. In all four major North American flyways, hunters refine their fields to attract the winged travelers by strategically flooding them at just the right time, adding to the abundance of rivers and lakes that naturally make the Mississippi Flyway an ideal route for these feathered travelers and hunters alike. DM

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ON THE ROAD

where we’ve been, where to go next

LAKE VILLAGE

MEMPHIS A crop duster flyover in the Arkansas Delta. – LAKEPORT PLANTATION

Not afraid of the big bad wolf here! This longtime restaurant has been serving the community since 1968.

PHOTO OPS WESTERN BOLIVAR COUNTY GREENVILLE If only walls could talk. An old cabin near the Mississippi River still stands, representing times gone by. – NANCY FRANKLIN

GREENWOOD

A salute to the first Greenwood Cotton Exchange which was established on Howard Street in 1927. – VISIT GREENWOOD

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The retro tile entrance still remains at a noted Delta landmark in Greenville. – THOMAS GREGORY

ROSEDALE CLEVELAND

The Centaur of the Universe at The Blue Levee restaurant. – SEAN JOHNSON

CLARKSDALE

’Tis the time of the year Cleveland transforms into a Christmas wonderland. – VISIT CLEVEALND

& FUNKY STOPS Stickers from all over the world greet visitors at the front entrance of Ground Zero Blues Club.

YAZOO CITY

TUNICA

Greetings from the Gateway to the Delta. – THOMAS GREGORY The Triangle Cultural Center is one of the Delta’s historic buildings. - VISIT YAZOO CITY Instagram users, follow @deltamagazine

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Good Times in Greenville—the Heart and Soul of the Delta

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OFF THE BEATEN PATH roaming the real and rustic Delta

L’UVA WINE ROOM IN STARKVILLE Raising the bar one glass at a time

ATE NIGHT DRINKS AND APPS AND FRIENDLY CATCH-UPS OVER SIPS became

a bit more elevated when L’uva Wine Bar opened this year in Bulldog country. The idea for the wine bar was created when an extra space in an existing business needed to be filled. “We opened a coffeegelato shop called Dolce two years ago, and we needed to relocate it in early spring 2022,” said owner Robbie Coblentz. “We found a great space at 509 University Drive in the Grand Junction condo development, near Mississippi State. The space was perfect for Dolce, but also a bit too big for the concept. We—my wife Bonnie, co-owners Laura Kate and Stefan Tribble, and myself—decided that Starkville needed a high-end wine bar.” With the help of sommelier and Certified Specialist of Wine Melanie Hankins Booth, some of the offerings at L’uva are unique wines guests might not have tried before. “The current alcohol-procurement infrastructure is a bit of a challenge,” said Coblentz. “COVID pushed deliveries of alcohol orders from the state ABC warehouse from two to three days to two to three weeks, where it has remained. We are fortunate that Melanie, our som, has an incredible knowledge of wines and is able to pivot recommendations based upon what labels we are able to get. Plus she has amazing connections in the larger wine community that have allowed us to bring in some quality varieties that our guests may not be familiar with. Because of her reputation and the trust our guests have in her, she is able to make recommendations that open eyes and palates.” Along with a great selection of wine, there are also apps like flatbreads and charcuterie plates available as accompaniments. They also host events on Tuesdays such as trivia nights and bingo, and also have wine classes. 509 University Drive, Suite 106, Starkville 662.430.2320 luvawineroom.com Facebook and Instagram:@luvawineroom

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Top to bottom: Wine tastings and classes are held throughout the year as ticketed events and are extremely popular with visitors. Grazing plates such as their charcuterie boards are the perfect complement to a glass of vino. The cozy interior is the perfect spot for a pre- or afterdinner drink, or to catch up with friends over small plates.

THE 1902 T.H. RESTAURANT & BAR Upscale dining and handcrafted libations at The Thompson House in Leland 1902 OPENED ITS DOORS IN SEPTEMBER OF YEAR AND NO ONE IS MORE EXCITED THAN TTHEHETHISNEW PROPRIETORS OF THE HISTORIC PROPERTY ON DEER CREEK IN LELAND Eager to share their brand of hospitality with the Delta, owners Jerry and Misty Galloway purchased the Thompson House, with daughter Bella and her husband, Miller Gehrke, managing the property. Hailing from Missouri, the Galloway family’s vision is an inviting space offering upscale lodging, delicious Southern/French/ Creole meals, handcrafted cocktails, and a tranquil dining experience for both locals and discerning travelers. The Galloways wanted all of the lovely, revamped amenities at The Thompson House to maintain the hallmark leisurely attitude of the Mississippi Delta, which is why they wallpapered, hung each artwork, and curated the remodel themselves. It has truly been a family affair. Tucked inside the main floor of the historic Thompson House, The 1902 T.H Restaurant & Bar invites all to come enjoy the leisure of their upgraded interiors, upcoming courtyard and gardens, stately porch with rocking chairs, and art wall featuring a collection of Mississippi artists. The restaurant is open for lunch Mondays-Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with bar bites throughout the week from 5 to 9 p.m. During the lunch service, the staff actually undresses the tables, making a point to mention farmers may come to lunch from the field. Evenings are when the formal place settings are set out. Each menu item, like the crab beignets and catfish boulettes, or the creole fish and shrimp and the restaurant’s signature filet mignon, is prepared fresh and meant to be savored over long conversation. The remodeled library provides a swanky atmosphere where knowledgeable bartender Jeffrey Lewis crafts bestsellers like the Mississippi Rum Punch. An ode to Missouri tops the bar with a piece of wood from back home. The 1902 T.H. Restaurant & Bar is just one example of how the Galloways have expanded the amenities at The Thompson House to pamper guests. They want their patrons to be less like strangers and more like family! The historic Thompson House, along with new owners and managers, are welcoming guests from all over the region to not only stay at the beautiful B&B, but also creating a wonderful dining atmosphere for both lunch and dinner. Locals and visitors can also enjoy handcrafted cocktails in the bar.

111 North Deer Creek Drive West, Leland; 662.820.7829; Facebook: @thethompsonhouseland Instagram: @thethompsonhouseinn DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Holidays are Brighter in Hernando

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IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR: OUR HERNANDO DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS AND CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE!

Visit and shop over 20 participating Hernando businesses to get an early start on your Christmas shopping!

on the Hernando Town Square NOV. 10: 6 to 9 p.m. (Christmas tree lighting, ice skating, and free holiday movie)

NOV. 11: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Nov 12: 1 to 5 p.m. Sponsored by:

Enjoy cra昀ers and vendors with Christmas wares, trolley tours of historic homes, wassailing in the historic downtown, historic carriage rides, children’s ornament decorating, historic entertainment, sel昀es with Santa and more. Call 662.429.9092 to get updates on the event. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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VAN GOGH for All

A traveling exhibit that immerses you in the works of the world’s most famous painter D EC E M B E R T H R O U G H FE B R UARY

P R E S E NTE D BY: G reenwood Co nvent i o n & Vi s i to rs B u rea u M i s s i s s i p p i Devel o p me n t Au t ho ri t y • G u a ra n t y B a n k • Del ta H ea l t h A l l i a nce 1608 US-82, Greenwood, MS / T: (662) 453-0925 / www.museumofthemississippidelta.com

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HOT TOPICS CONCERT PIANIST BRUCE LEVINGSTON RELEASES NEW WORKS Improvisatory and magical all at once Delta native and renowned concert pianist Fame in 2017. In 2018, April 9 was declared Bruce Levingston has released his tenth Bruce Levingston Day in Mississippi. solo album, Without Words on the Sono He currently serves as the Chancellor’s Honors Luminus record label. The album was College Artist in Residence and is holder of the produced by Grammy Award-winner Dan Lester Glenn Fant Chair at the University of Merceruio, music by Felix Mendelssohn, and his Mississippi. spiritual heir, the brilliant young Mississippi-born “Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words simply composer Price Walden. The cover art was created defy ordinary description,” says Levingston. by acclaimed Oxford-based painter Philip Jackson. “Refined and nuanced, they constitute some of the One reviewer in Interlude magazine wrote, “A new composer’s finest and best-known works. For Levingston recently performed the nearly two hundred years, they were regarded as recording by American pianist Bruce Levingston national anthem at Vaught-Hemingway charming relics, select romantic gems performed in makes us rethink Mendelssohn’s creation … stadium at the University of Mississippi. small concert halls and salons. While their subtle, improvisatory and magical all at once. Bruce Levingston’s performance captures both the ornamental qualities certainly shine brightest in poignancy of Walden’s commission and the ways more intimate settings, closer inspection reveals an that Mendelssohn wrote for his different audiences.” unexpected depth and complexity to these miniature For many years Levingston has featured living masterpieces. Their interpretive and technical demands composers in his programs. He has performed at Carnegie are considerable, requiring sensitivity to voicing, Hall, Lincoln Center, the United Nations in New York, pedaling, and dynamic control. Meant to enchant rather the Library of Congress, the Royal Opera House in than dazzle, they evoke myriad dreams revealing some England, the Teatro del Lago in Chile, the Théâtre of the composer’s innermost reflections. Like private Croisette in Cannes, Italy’s Teatro Regio, and many entries in a musical diary, they offer a rare glimpse into contemporary and classical music festivals all over the world. this reserved but passionate artist’s thoughts.” In 2006, Levingston received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Without Words is available on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and other the Arts and he was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of social media music platforms.

VAN GOGH IN GREENWOOD Interactive exhibit coming in December to the Museum of the Mississippi Delta What would it be like to step into Van Gogh’s Starry Night or peek behind the shutters of The Yellow House? A trip to Greenwood’s Museum of the Mississippi Delta will let you and your entire family do just that beginning December 1, as it features “Van Gogh for All,” a unique interactive exhibit designed to engage all ages. Where you expect to see “do not touch” signs in most art museums, this suggests exactly the opposite. The purpose is to be hands-on in every aspect. Visitors can spin the sun and swirl the stars on a twelve-foot-wide interactive screen of Starry Night, one of the most engaging features of “Van Gogh for All.” It’s a perfect way to introduce young people to the magic of art, as they literally become a part of the paintings, as well as create their own. This experientially rich exhibit uses modern technology and participatory learning to immerse audiences in the genius, personal struggles, and creative process of one of the world’s most famous nineteenth-century painters. Different sections show the artist’s work from his time in the south of France—paintings that are appreciated for the use of vibrant color and wide brushstrokes. The bold hues used in the exhibit are inviting and energizing, just as they are in Van

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Gogh’s distinctive paintings. Visitors can become part of a landscape, sit at a table outside the Café Terrace at Night or paint their self-portrait as Van Gogh often did. This exhibit was designed and produced by the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation, and it has been seen in museums in larger cities across the country. The Museum of the Mississippi Delta is thrilled to be able to offer it to residents and visitors to the Greenwood area thanks to generous sponsors who know the value of introducing art—as the title says—for all. 1608 Highway 82 West, Greenwood 662.453.0925; museumofthemississippidelta.com

SECOND MCCARTY BOOK PUBLISHED New volume features the couple’s jewelry designs The McCartys of Merigold, Mississippi, Pup and Lee were known for their clay and ceramic creations. However, they were designing and crafting jewelry long before they threw their first pots. Throughout their storied careers in pottery, they also created beautiful jewelry—and their creations were prized around the country and throughout the world. A much anticipated new volume, The McCartys of Merigold, Mississippi: The Jewelry, 1948-2015, is being released November 10. A follow-up to The McCartys of Merigold, Mississippi: The Pottery, published in 2016, it will be available from the studio in Merigold, through the affiliated shops that carry McCartys pottery, as well as bookstores. The new volume was written and photographed by John Ramsey Miller, who spent months in Merigold, Mississippi, photographing hundreds of pieces of jewelry belonging to the McCartys’ personal collection, as well as selected pieces borrowed from private owners. The coffee table book contains 148 pages of stellar photography, capturing many of their designs covering decades of the creative couple’s amazing variety of jewelers’ artistry. The pieces featured in the volume are crafted from copper, gold, ceramics, silver, and brass, often combining the metals with ebony,

MCCARTYS

OF M ERI GO LD

, M ISS ISS IPP I

MCCARTYS T THE JEWELRY 1948-2015 By: John Ramsey

Miller

ivory and native stones. As with their pottery, the couple saw beauty and were inspired by nature and the world around them in each creation. In the book, Miller presents the pieces in a way that celebrates the beauty of the individual pieces in their isolation, allowing each work to be appreciated without distraction. For more information or to purchase a copy call McCartys Pottery, 662.748.2293

SHOPPES ON SOUTH MAIN Partnership brings new level of retail therapy to Greenville The South is rooted in tradition: watching the Egg Bowl, making candied sweet potatoes, and going hunting on opening day are just a few of the seasonal traditions that the Mississippi Delta holds dear. Traditions tie us together, creating home ties where blood ties cannot be found. Lea Margaret Hamilton of Greenville along with partners Karen Kelley, Marla McGee, Susan Southerland, and Jan Trinca are working to maintain time-honored traditions while tearing down walls of old through their partnership gift boutique, Shoppes on South Main. Informally known as Shoppes, the Greenville store opened its glass doors in August. Rather than having a traditional gift shop setting with individualized booths, Shoppes breaks barriers by incorporating four business—Delta Landing, K. Kelley’s, MarSu Interiors, and SoDelta Candle Company—into one store. Candles from SoDelta Candle Company intermingle with game day apparel from Delta Landing, and Etta B Pottery from K. Kelley’s complements home decor items from MarSu Interiors. Lea Margaret Hamilton, founder of SoDelta Candle Company says, “We wanted it [Shoppes] to look like one big beautiful boutique!” Additionally, they carry gifts for every family member. From baby

clothing to jewelry to gifts for both men and women, Shoppes has “something for everyone,” according to Marla McGee, co-owner of MarSu Interiors. “We are trying to hit everything a shopper would want going into a store,” says McGee, which includes having the right gifts available for Christmas. Shoppes is excited to celebrate the holiday season with extended store hours and special events that are sure to bring Christmas cheer. Shipping and free gift wrapping are always available and make checking everyone off of your list easy. Give a gift from the Mississippi Delta this year by visiting Shoppes on South Main, located in the former Yarber’s Flowers and Gifts store Working without the confines of walls has allowed Shoppes to proudly wear and embrace the Magnolia State’s motto of hospitality. “I love the camaraderie that we have,” says Hamilton. “We all bring different gifts and talents to the table.” Whether you are looking to complete a wedding registry, gear up for game day, or decorate for the holidays, Shoppes on South Main has everything you need to bring Mississippi hospitality home. 1677 South Main Street, Greenville; 662.702.3999 Facebook and Instagram: @shoppesonsouthmain DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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‘Tis the Season to Shop Historic Downtown Cleveland

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Neysa’s

Fireside Shop

109 North Street Cleveland, MS 38732 662-843-3311

For over 30 years ... A Christmas treasure! 44 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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Book your Delta getaway today! COTTONHOUSECLEVELAND.COM

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Christmas in

cleveland It’s magical. It’s merry. It’s all things bright. Make this holiday season unforgettable. Shop, dine, and create lasting memories in Downtown Cleveland, Mississippi. Don't miss out on the magic!

Open House Nov. 11 - 12 Holiday Mug Walk Nov. 25 Christmas Parade Dec. 7 Enjoy 50 Nights of Lights, Ice Skating, Ice Go-Karts, Trolley Rides, Carriage Rides and many more events all throughout the holiday season.

clevelandmainstreet.com DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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JULY/AUGUST

2020

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• 4th of July Lake houses • 3 Family Restaurant • Kathryn’s

& Batches terie Boards inspired charcu ils Summer large batch cockta boards and

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R 2020

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BOOKS

Buzzworthy Comments

The Art of Dining in Memphis by Joy Bateman (Self Published) The Art of The fifth installment of The Art of Dining in Memphis by Dining In Memphis 5 artist and illustrator Joy Bateman will soon be available. This Joy Bateman colorful restaurant guide takes the reader on a culinary tour of some of the best Memphis has to offer when it comes to fine dining and stellar cuisine. Thirty-nine different establishments are featured and a signature dish from each, recipe included, grace the pages of this fun and colorful book. Whether you are a professed “foodie” or a home cook, you will relish the brief overview of each featured restaurant and will certainly take a stab at recreating some, if not all, of the delicious menu items Joy Bateman represented. (Special/DM Staff ) A RESTAURANT GUIDE

WITH SIGNATURE RECIPES

A Fountain at Memphis

Botanic Garden

We asked Facebook friends and the Delta Magazine fan page group members to share their favorite book to read at Christmas time. o Jan Townsend, teacher

Behind the Levee by Jim Crews (Tilda Bogue Publishing, Inc.) Author Jim Crews recently released his second book, Behind the Levee. Part history and part hunting and fishing tales, Behind the Levee is his personal story of more than fifty years of life at Ward Lake Hunting Club in Coahoma County. The rich, wild lands along the Mississippi River between Memphis and Vicksburg are home to some of the finest hunting and fishing clubs in the nation and hold a particular mystique. Filled with waterfowl, wild turkeys, deer, small game, and a huge variety of other wildlife, these Delta bottomlands have provided recreation and enjoyment to many sportsman—indeed, Jim’s own family has enjoyed them for four generations. Behind the Levee provides an inside look at a fabled locale in the heart of the Delta. (Special/DM Staff ) Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (Random House) If you’re in for a slow burn of a literary mystery at the crossroads of philosophy, psychiatry, and science, then Edgar Award-winner, Angie Kim’s second novel, Happiness Falls, is the family drama to read. Mia’s father, Adam, went on a walk with her fourteen-year-old brother, Eugene, who is neurodivergent with autism and Angelman Syndrome. When Eugene returns without Adam, running like he never has, and with blood under his fingernails, the Parson family knows something is wrong. But Eugene is nonverbal due to his diability. When the police arrive with questions, Mia and her mother must investigate her father’s life more closely to understand what happened. Both hypnotizing and enlightening, this novel will pull you into deep thought and question what happiness really is. It’s an artfully detailed work of intellectual suspense. It’s not a beach read, but you will walk away from this one a little different, in the best way. (Liza Jones)

Water Valley, Mississippi

For children, I love The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado. It teaches that “God has a special place for you.” Sweet book for so many who do not feel special. I read it yearly at Christmas to my special needs class. o June Dotson, teacher Tupelo, Mississippi

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg. This book is my favorite. It is such a sweet story. Jim Crews

o Sherry Hopkins, retired Enid, Mississippi

The book of Luke, is the New Testament story of Jesus’ birth. o Marian Duncan Hollingsworth, retired Copeland, Kansas

Letters from Father Christmas by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien’s collection of letters to his children from Father Christmas are so special because in his letters he creates his own language, illustrations, and world. o Kim Wilson, retired Panther Burn, Mississippi

Angie Kim

The Greatest Gift by Phillip Van Doren Stern, which inspired the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. It tells how life can weigh a person down and then how love can pick that same person up again.

For the Record Books Delta Magazine fans are currently reading o Robin Webb The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

o Kevin Miller Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides

o Ruthie Mitchell Brother to a Dragonfly by Will D. Campbell

o Kim Wilson The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne 52 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

o Robert Hardin Bad Summer People

o Connie Elliot Cavett Demon Copperhead

by Emma Rosenblum

by Barbara Kingsolver

o Mary McKenzie Thompson The Postcard

o Rebecca Seawright The Road to Moonlight Feels Right

by Anne Berest

o Jimmy Caden Moon Lake by Eudora Welty

o Rita Dailey A Slow Calculated Lynching by Devery S. Anderson

by Bruce Blackman

o Fran Ross Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

o Evelyn McDowell Sullivan Jesus Out to Sea by James Lee Burke

A Nautical Conspiracy by David Beckwith (Absolutely Amazing eBooks) Anyone who knows David Beckwith will tell you his amateur detectives are doppelgängers for him and his late wife, Nancy. There are now eleven books in the series, this latest one being called A Nautical Conspiracy. This time around, the Blacks go cruising around Jamaica. It’s actually a story of internecine gang warfare—with Harry Dog and Bigga Ford trying to come up with a scheme to save themselves from the wrath of Dudus Coke, prez of the notorious Shower Posse. You see, Harry Dog had lost a boatload of cash, which didn’t go over well with the prez. Now they needed to buy the boat back at the impound auction, with the inept assistance of crooked accountant Weasley Lineitem. That doesn’t go well either. Will and Betsy bumble into the situation when their friends DV and Cee Cee (“a guitar picker and a debutante”) move to Jamaican and unknowingly buy the contested boat, Spirit of the Seas. With the help of local friends Henry Davis and Mikey Mo and The Colonel, Will and Betsy again must face off at great personal risk against the Shower Posse. Married and middle-aged, Will and Betsy are a pair of protagonists easy to identify with—although their witty Thin Man banter will make you wish you were even half that clever. The book rings with verisimilitude—whether taking you to a Key West music festival or describing out-of-the-way Jamaican neighborhoods or squeezing through the crowds of Kingston’s Jubilee Market “with hundreds of stalls offering anything from exotic fruits to rat traps, and CDs with all forms of Jamaican music to freshly caught fish, and of course, the inevitable ganja.” (Shirrel Rhoades) The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar (Algonquin Books) If you are in the mood to get emotional, to get lost in family secrets, then Thrity Umrigar’s newest novel, The Museum of Failures is for you. Remy is a first-generation immigrant from Bombay, married to an American woman. When they are unable to have a baby, a friend of his tells him of his niece who has had an unexpected pregnancy. When he travels back to Bombay to meet the woman and see about the adoption, he learns his mother, with whom he’s had a contentious relationship, is sick. This novel is so well-written that reading it is like taking a trip to India but not having to go anywhere. It’s such an incredibly moving, character-driven story with twists, turns, and surprises. When it comes to our closest familial relationships, things are not always what they seem. (Liza Jones)

Your Delta-Starkville Connection

Audrey & Madalyn McBride

TURNING DREAMS INTO AN ADDRESS Office: 662.338.0882 Audrey Cell:662.341.1000 Madalyn Cell: 662.769.8777 503 Academy Road www.mcbrideandco.com

The Caretaker by Ron Rash (Doubleday) Oh, how Ron Rash loves his midcentury Appalachia, and his fans should rejoice again about his latest novel, The Caretaker. Our hero is Blackburn Gant, a live-in caregiver for a cemetery in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. His best friend, Jacob Hampton, is drafted for the Korean War, and Blackburn takes on the task of caring for Jacob’s pregnant wife, Naomi, a hotel maid from Tennessee, who is only sixteen years old and ill-educated. Jacob’s family has disowned him for marrying Naomi and when Jacob is wounded in combat, the Hampton family seizes the opportunity to do something about Naomi. Some are saying this is one of Rash’s best novels. His hardworking, loyal hero in Blackburn is what really makes this story shine, in addition to his trademark aﬀection for his setting. (Liza Jones) DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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A PERFECT GIFT FOR YOURS... AND YOU! Explore Memphis cuisine with this guidebook! Enjoy the recipes you’ll 昀nd here for memorable holiday or any occasion meals. Entertain guests with all new text and the art of Joy’s Memphis restaurant illustrations. FIND JOY’S BOOKS AT: Brother Juniper’s, Memphis Sweet LaLa’s Bakery, Memphis Falling into Place, Memphis Social, Memphis Stock & Belle, Memphis More Than Words, Germantown , TN Ginger’s, Corinth, MS Mimi’s on Main, Senatobia , MS Ultimate Gifts, Southaven , MS Novel Bookstore in Laurelwood, Memphis

The Art of Dining In Memphis 5 A RESTAURANT

GUIDE WITH SIG

Joy Bateman

NATURE RECIPES

A Fountain at Mem phis Botanic Gard en

Joy Bateman Author, illustrator, publisher of The Art of Dining book series

JOYSARTOFDINING.COM

BOOK SIGNING | 6pm Thursday, Nov. 30 2023 at Novel Bookstore | 387 Perkins Ext , Memphis TN 54 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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Indulge Yourself in Greenwood—Happy Holidays

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year in

Greenwood, Mississippi

GREENWOOD CHORALE

THE SINGING CHRISTMAS TREE

SACRED ECHOES 1ST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH TUESDAY, NOV. 14 7 P.M.

1ST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MONDAY, DECEMBER 4 7 PM

SEASONAL SELECTIONS

GINGERBREAD WORKSHOPS DEC. 3/10/17/19/21. NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION CLASSES DEC. 27/28/29/30

VIKING COOKING SCHOOL DAVID PHELPS IN CONCERT THURSDAY, NOV. 16 7 PM NORTH GREENWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH CALL 662.453.2801 FOR TICKETS

ROY MARTIN DELTA BAND FESTIVAL & CHRISTMAS PARADE FIREWORKS ON THE YAZOO RIVER FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1 4 PM

VAN GOGH: THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE MUSEUM OF THE MS DELTA DEC 1-FEB 2024

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HOLIDAY ARTISTS MARKET ARTPLACE MISSISSIPPI SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 9 A.M.-1 P.M. 212 W. WASHINGTON ST. DOWNTOWN

20TH ANNUAL BUFORD FAMILY CHRISTMAS CONCERT MONDAY, DECEMBER 18 5:30 AND 7:30 PM THE ALLUVIAN HOTEL .

Its always a

Merry Christmas when you shop in Greenwood, MS

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Holiday IN THE DELTA

GIFT CARDS

AVA I L A B L E

318 H owa rd St reet G reenwood, M i s s i s s i p p i 662 . 4 5 3 . 2114 t h ea l l u v i a n .com

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Serio’s is not just an Italian restaurant with authentic Italian cuisine and a variety of seafood selections. Serio’s has always been known for its great steaks and is now placing even more emphasis on that aspect of its heritage. An already wide choice of steaks has been further expanded using premium Certiﬁed Angus Beef exclusively to provide one of the most extensive steak menus to be found anywhere. And in addition to private booths, the casual coziness of the ﬁreplace room and the new and enhanced outdoor courtyard seating, a classic white tablecloth steakhouse environment has been created to provide a unique collection of dining options. With its broad offering of steaks, seafood and traditional Italian dishes and a comfortably inviting atmosphere, Serio’s Italian Steakhouse is a Delta dining destination to be enjoyed by all. O P EN F O R DI NNER T U E S D A Y - SA T U RD A Y 5- 9 PM

Closed Sunday and Monday

@serios_greenwood

seriosrestaurant.com 662-453-4826

•

506 YALOBUSHA STREET

•

GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI

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holiday gift guide

Swig’s holiday travel mug will keep your beverages just the right temperature, whether hot or cold.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

❋ White Christmas

The only thing that could make this elegant Christmas platter better is a stack of your favorite cookies. Elevated with gold-finished beads it will enjoyed for years to come.

Yazoo Drug Co., Yazoo City Instagram: @yazoodrugco 662.746.7423

Neysa’s Fireside Shop, Cleveland Instagram: @neysasﬁresideshop 662.843.3311

❋ Standing Tall

Add a subtle seasonal accent to the mantel, coffee table, or dining table, with beautiful velvet ribbon trees. They are a special addition to your holiday decor that will be enjoyed year after year. What a special holiday gift!

Mimi’s on Main, Senatobia Instagram: @mimisonmain mimisonmain.com 662.562.8261

❋ Rad for Radko

These stunning Christopher Radko collectible ornaments have long been treasures to be passed down for generations. Start a collection or add to that special person’s on your list.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Gift ideas for everyone on your list!

in Style ❋ Sip Just in time for hot cocoa season,

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

2023

Rosson Co., Cleveland Instagram: @rossoncompany rossonco.com 662.843.3986

❋ Party Ready

Who doesn’t love chips and dip? Grab this @ettabpottery and keep it handy to serve your favorites throughout the holidays.

Ultimate Gifts, Southaven Instagram: @ultiimategifts shopultimategifts.com 662.349.2717

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❋ Picture Perfect

Your little ones will sleep tight and look the part when they tear into their haul from Santa on Christmas morning in these precious Santa-themed pajamas.

Punkin Patch, Cleveland Instagram: @punkinpatchcleveland 662.843.0434

Wonder ❋ Waxed The perfect vest from Madison Creek

Outfitters—just right for layering this season. One touch of this goat suede leather with its waxed finish and you will be amazed at the lightweight, soft feel.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Abraham’s Clothing, Cleveland Instagram: @abrahamsclothingcleveland 662.843.4541

❋ Form and Function

A handmade knife by Clevelander Jason Jennings is a one-of-a-kind gift the outdoorsman or collector on your list will always cherish.

Co & Co Outﬁtters, Cleveland Instagram: @coandcooutﬁtters

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

and Carry ❋ Conceal Form meets function with Tom Beckbe’s handsome

leather gun sleeve. Suitable for most medium-length hunting shotguns, it protects your firearm with a durable leather exterior and a fleece-lined interior. There is also a convenient zippered utility pocket and D-ring for vertical storage.

Tom Beckbe, Oxford Instagram: @tombeckbe tombeckbe.com 662.259.8149

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Up ❋ Tighten Looking for an accessory that adds some color to your outfit

rugged and dependable Yukon Outfitters Bucket Hard will keep food and beverages cold for guys on the go.

The Sportsman, Inc., Greenville Instagram: @the_sportsman_inc 662.335.5018

Oak Hall, Memphis Instagram: @oakhall oakhall.com 901.761.3580

Dude ❋ Cool Whether hunting, camping, or traveling to the game,

and shows your team spirit? Look no further than the Oak Hall Game Day gaucho belt. This striking belt is crafted from high-quality leather and threads, ensuring that it's both fashionable, durable, and game day ready.

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n HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

❋ Sparkle and Shine

Add a little dazzle (and color) to your holiday table and throughout your home with these stunning colored glass trees. Group together for extra impact!

Mod + Proper, Cleveland, Instagram: @modandproper shopmodandproper.com 662.400.3111

of Heaven ❋ Slice Put in your order for Heaton Pecans’

homemade freshly baked pecan pies and stock up for holiday meals and order extras to take along to holiday parties and events!

Heaton Pecans, Lyon Instagram: @heatonpecans heatonpecans.com 662.627.7065

Knows ❋ Nose Fragrance diffusers are sure to be on

everyone’s Christmas list this year! The new collection of @glasshousefragrances make an ideal hostess happy or teacher gift or a treat for yourself! Grab several to keep on hand for those last-minute gifts.

Howard and Marsh Exchange, Greenwood Instagram: @howardandmarsh 662.219.0756

❋ Grab and Go

For the gift that’s always appreciated. Keep cartons and tins of Mississippi Cheese straws on hand during the holidays to have for unexpected guests, for a last minute hostess gift or to take along to holiday gatherings. The rich flavor of perfectly aged cheddar cheese keeps everyone coming back for more!

❋ At Attention

Nutcrackers in unexpected pink and baby blue will make a fun addition to your collection or a perfect Baby’s first Christmas gift for the littlest ones on your list!

Mississippi Cheese Straw Factory cheesestraws.com 800.530.7496

The Crown, Indianola @thecrownindianolams thecrownrestaurant.com 662.887.4522

❋ Dog Eat Dog

Elevate your spaces with these posh pooches, reminiscent of classic Staffordshire figurines but oh so colorful. They’ll be a conversation starter with all your guests or make a fun gift your friends will love!

Delicious: ❋ Incurably Bill-E’s Small Batch Bacon is artisan smoked and hand-cured in Fairhope, Alabama, but with Mississippi Delta roots, its perfect for the bacon lover on your list.

billesbacon.com 251.209.2129 64 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Hunt & Bloom, Houston, Texas Instagram: @shophuntandbloom huntandbloom.com

❋ Criss Cross

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Look Mom, no hands! Just the right size for carrying all your essentials—and with the convenience of remaining hands-free, this subtle metallic has neutral vibes and style galore.

Lavender Lane, Indianola Instagram: @lavenderlane 662.452.5131

❋ Need a great gift for the clotheshorse on

your list? Hardworking as their name, these neutral suede mules are great looking and can be worn year-round. They will be a go-to any girl would love wrapped under the tree.

High Cotton Design Co., Greenville Instagram: @highcottondesignco22 662.820.9717

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Whoever said you can’t wear white shoes ❋ after Labor Day, welcome to 2023! Chunky and comfortable, these ivory platform booties provide a fresh look this season.

MaeMae and Me, Batesville Instagram: @maemae_and_me maemaeandme.com 662.934.6514

❋ Loafers are having a moment and we’re here for it. Stacked and sturdy, you’ll reach for this neutral option over and over.

Shades of Neutral ❋ The perfect finishing touch for the

❋ The Kitten heel trend gives cool vibes and hot style with these booties. The warm tones and heel height is just enough to give these suede beauties an edge, that will take you to all your seasonal events.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

popular monotone neutral trend. Grab your ivory jeans, a chunky sweater, and go with these Matisse ecru suede boots that will elevate any outfit from denim to a dinner out.

H Squared Boutique, Cleveland Instagram: @hsquaredboutique hsquaredladieswear.com 662.843.4504

Mod + Proper, Cleveland, Instagram: @modandproper shopmodandproper.com 662.400.3111

Lavender Lane, Indianola Instagram: @lavenderlane 662.452.5131

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Set, Go ❋ Ready, The new year will be here in a flash. Hit the ground running with a beautiful calendar to keep you organized in style. These handdetailed calendars make keeping a schedule more fun!

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Provision Oxford, Oxford Instagram: @provisionoxford provisionoxford.com 662.638.0480

Read ❋ AHelpRare rebuild a local landmark, Greenwood’s Turnrow

Turnrow Books, Greenwood Instagram: @turnrowbooks turnrowbooks.com 662.453.5995

MCCARTYS OF M ERIGOLD, M ISSISSIPPI

❋ Gold Rush

This pyramid stackable gold band from Gabriel & Co. is simply perfect to wear alone, or pair with your favorite rings for an updated look!

Van Atkins, New Albany Instagram: @vanatkinsjewelers vanatkins.com 662.534.5012

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Books—and snag one of the hottest Christmas gifts of the year. The avid reader on your list will treasure a signed first edition copy of The Exchange, John Grisham‘s sequel to The Firm! Order from Turnrow’s website—yours while supplies last!

THE JEWELRY 1948-2015 By: John Ramsey Miller

❋ Round Two

A new volume, The McCartys of Merigold, Mississippi: The Jewelry, 1948-2015 will be released in November as a follow up to the popular 2016 book showcasing their pottery. If you are a lover of all things McCarty, call McCarty Pottery for more information.

McCartys Pottery, Merigold 662.748.2293

❋ Elegant Earrings

Who says blue-and-white is only used for decorating with trinkets and jars? Adorn your ears with these adorable baubles that are perfect for yourself or to give as a gift!

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❋ All That Glitters

Her eyes will sparkle when she opens a little box and sees this beauty. David Yurman Cable Edge Saddle Ring in recycled 18K yellow gold with pavé diamonds.

Mednikow Jewelers, Memphis Instagram: @mednikowmemphis mednikow.com 901.767.2100

n HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

and Round ❋ Round From cheese boards to arranging desserts

Stave off winter doldrums and enjoy the old tradition of forcing paperwhites and other bulbs during the holidays in these handblown gem-toned bulb vases. Made by a Vermont glassblower for Reed Smythe & Co. the rich tones are stunning when grouped together. One in each color please!

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❋ Force of Nature

or appetizers, a lazy Susan is indispensible! Perfect as a gift or for your own kitchen— and remember, the best memories are made around the table.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

❋ Flame Throwers

Candles are one of the best universal gifts, and @SoDelta candles come in all shapes, sizes, and scents—there is something for everyone! They’re a wonderful gift for that person on your list who has everything! Check out the new selections!

SHOPPES on South Main, Greenville Instagram: @shoppesonsouthmain 662.702.3999

School ❋ Old Remember going to have pictures

his beard has to be. Tame and soften the burliest beard with the Duke Cannon Supply Co.® Big Bourbon Beard Oil. Natural ingredients with a touch of Buffalo Trace bourbon give it a woodsy scent!

❋ Scented Spray

Turn your home bathroom into a spa-like experience with these super popular shower steamers. Perfect for a teacher or hostess gift!

SHOPPES on South Main, Greenville Instagram: @shoppesonsouthmain 662.702.3999

Sav-Mor Drugs and Gifts, Grenada Instagram: @savmordrugsandgifts savmordrugsandgifts.com 662.226.6741

Rosson Co., Cleveland Instagram: @rossoncompany rossonco.com 662.843.3986

Beard ❋ Burly He’s a tough guy, but that doesn't mean

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

printed and how they often sat in drawers never to be seen again? Go old-school with the, Hello Beautiful coffee table photo album, an elevated version of the old standby, featuring an elegant, white cloth cover with gold foiled text. Inside, you'll find 30 pages of high-quality black photo paper to attach your photos! It’s a beautiful gift that will inspire friends and family to treasure the photos even more!

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ART

Britt at work behind the wheel in his Clarksdale studio.

Austin Britt

Unique creations, clay-covered hands, and a peaceful heart

BY LEANNA MILLER • PHOTOGRAPHY BY RORY DOYLE

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Above, Britt’s works display the intricate combinations of color and texture in the glazes he uses. Below, his unique coffee mugs point to Britt’s penchant for movement in his designs, and the detail of handshaping in each handle.

larksdale native Austin Britt is grateful the ﬁne art and handcraft of ceramics claimed his creative passion and brought him back home. For this talented professional photographer—specializing in portrait, wedding, and band photography—painter, and former musician in a touring rock band, ﬁnding a place to lay his cards down and get to work has proved to be a cathartic experience. Britt’s small batch, wheel-thrown and hand-

constructed pottery is aesthetically rich, and his admirers and pottery collectors alike are taking notice of his beautiful creations. Growing up in Clarksdale, Britt was bound to unearth his artistic side. His grandmother owned a dance studio but it was his mother, a painter, who introduced him to visual art. “It’s why my first pottery business was called Foxtrot Pottery, an ode to grandma’s old dance studio,” said Britt, “I like for my pieces to seem like they’re dancing when they come off the wheel.” He remembers making salt dough creations with his mother; mixing salt, flour, and water together to just the right consistency, molding and shaping it into little animals, and popping them in the oven to see how they would come out on the other side. Little did he know this simple activity with his mother was a subtle introduction to working with clay that would have a lasting impact on his future. Britt did not fight his destiny, eventually traveling south down Highway 61 to attend Delta State University to study fine art. “I wanted to soak up as much art and knowledge as I could while I was there,” says Britt. But it wasn’t until the tail end—his final two semesters—that Britt signed up for a pottery class. The medium took him by total surprise and changed the course of his artistic evolution. Working with clay clicked instantly, and within a month became an obsession.

“It became essential for me, resulting in me distancing myself from other aspects of college life so I could spend as much time as possible in the studio—sometimes 10 to 12 hours or more a day, seven days a week. There were times when I woke up during the night, drove to campus, and went straight to the pottery classroom because it completely occupied all my thoughts!” In 2009, Britt graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design with a focus on photography. He left DSU with not only a degree and some fine-tuned skills under his belt, but with passion and inspiration. Although he is trained in graphic design, has worked with oils and painted large-scale murals, Britt has centered his creative focus on clay—and that concentration is paying off in the quality of his work. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Britt recalls the first time he sat at a pottery wheel, he produced a prodigious number of pieces, which is rare for a beginner. He still has those pieces today. His ceramics professor Ky Johnston played an enormous role in fueling his ability to create tirelessly. Johnson’s laid-back approach reduced the pressure and expectation for what the end result would be during the creative process, while simultaneously inspiring Britt with each work. “Thanks to Professor Johnston granting me freedom as an artist,” says Britt, “I managed to reach my full potential.” After only a few months working with clay, Britt was accepted to the prestigious Penland School of Craft, tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The program offers totalimmersion workshops and residency opportunities for budding and veteran artists. There, he was introduced to atmospheric firing techniques using salt, soda or wood kilns—soda, being his preferred method. Britt found he gravitated toward vessels with movement and also learned that perfecting his glazes would take some time. Upon completion of the program at Penland in 2009, Britt moved to Memphis and began searching for a studio space. He placed orders for supplies and had a $12,000 kiln sitting in storage. He began working with a successful Nigerian artist, but still had trouble finding studio space. Later in 2010, Britt came home for the Juke Joint Festival. He stayed downtown for three days to be near the music, arts, and events of the legendary blues celebration. He did some thinking, and after talking with his parents, Britt decided to open a studio in his hometown. By the time of the Sunflower River Blues Festival that same year, Britt had opened his first pottery studio. He called it Foxtrot, and there he honed his skills and worked for about five years, until life had yet another plan. He fell in love, got married, and started a family—changes that demanded his art take a pause, at least for a while. It’s only this year that Britt has come back to ceramics, showing and selling pieces at the recent Mighty Roots Festival at Stovall. He wonders why he ever left at all. Britt credits several accomplished ceramic artists for their influence along the way, including Matt Long, Steven Hill, Tom Coleman, and Mike Jabbur. He has studied glazes developed by Tom Coleman and Steven Hill for years, and currently uses their methods for his work. It’s a process that requires much trial and error, and he

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From a tea service, to bowls small and large, to drinking vessels, Britt’s works combine form and function.

A bourbon bottle with rocks glasses.

is still learning, years later, new things about glazes and their applications. When shaping and firing clay in the kiln and perfecting his cool and layered, warm-tone glazes, Britt feels completely at Britt’s penchant for fluidity can be seen in his home. He has developed a unique style working with the designs, particularly as he shapes each piece Mississippi Delta clay, putting great emphasis on the construction meticulously by hand if necessary, to get the of the handles and lips of drink vessels, particularly his stunning desired shape for comfort in handling the coffee mugs. finished piece. “The handle is tapered so it fits easily in your fingers and the lip has a certain angle that makes it more comfortable for drinking,” said Britt. When asked why he uses clay, Britt points to the many steps it takes to make the final product.”You can’t rush anything working with clay. Having my hands submerged in clay is the ultimate peace for me—and you have to have a tactile conversation with clay because it will let you know very quickly if it doesn’t want to listen to what you are telling it,” he explains. For now, his ceramics endeavor continues to grow. Currently, Britt is in the process of putting together pottery classes, workshops, and other various ways to introduce people to the art of clay. He also remains quite busy as a professional photographer. Britt predominantly makes cups and mugs and other vessels, as they are forms of functional art. He wants people to develop a connection with their morning coffee mug or their evening rocks glass, so that when someone holds one of his pieces, they can feel the texture, see the expert craftsmanship, and know that he shared a part of himself in each work. DM For more information or to purchase Britt’s pieces, follow on Instagram, @austinbrittceramics, or visit his website, austinbrittceramics.com, or email at foxtrotpottery@gmail.com DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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mcmmeridian.org 74 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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MUSIC

The Tim Lee 3, on stage at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2015. Left to right: Susan Bauer Lee, Chris Bratta, Tim Lee. (Bill Foster photo/Lee collection)

Riding the Wind How Tim Lee of Thacker Mountain Radio helped put Mississippi on the map for independent rock music

BY JIM BEAUGEZ

t came from Athens”—that’s the usual narrative slapped onto stories about the independent rock music scene in America during the 1980s, an era often dubbed “college rock” for the foothold jangly bands like R.E.M. found with campus radio stations of the day.

“I The Windbreakers, left to right: Tim Lee, Bobby Sutliff, and Barry Brown at W.C. Dons, Jackson, Mississippi, 1985. (Lee collection) 76 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

As an alternative to mainstream pop music, indie rock, as it’s come to be known, evolved outside of the media’s glare and the gloss of MTV, but it didn’t have a true epicenter. It sprang from Athens, Georgia, for sure—thanks to the aforementioned future superstars, as well as the B-52’s, Pylon and many lesser-known groups—but it also came from Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and elsewhere. Fans heard these bands on low-wattage, freeform college radio stations and read about them in local entertainment pages and

Sitting in with the dB’s left to right: Tim Lee, Jeff Benninato, Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby, The Chukker, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1986.

Tim Lee with the Windbreakers, W.C. Dons, Jackson, Mississippi, 1986 (Susan Bauer Lee photo)

Left to right: Mike Mills, Tim Lee. Impromptu performance from members of R.E.M., the Windbreakers, Fetchin’ Bones, Will & the Bushmen, and more. W.C. Dons, Jackson, Mississippi, 1987.

fanzines. They saw them perform at dive bars and bought their DIYmade albums and singles at small record shops. And in many cases, they were inspired to start their own bands. It’s a path Jackson, Mississippi, native Tim Lee took, as well— and more than four decades later, he’s come full circle from an ambitious young music fanatic playing shows and booking bands in his hometown to his current gig as production director at the beloved regional radio show Thacker Mountain Radio in Oxford. Lee’s journey began in front of the family television set in Jackson, where like many American kids, he watched The Beatles

transform pop culture with an electrifying performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. “I was really young, but the whole family gathered around the television,” Lee says. “It was such an event. It was just so crazed and weird and diﬀerent from everything else in the world that it stuck with me.” From that moment, he was hooked on rock ‘n’ roll. He progressed to the folk-rock of Bob Dylan, bluesmen like Muddy Waters and seventies glam-rock and proto-punk bands Slade and the New York Dolls. By the dawn of the eighties, when post-punk DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Windbreakers reunion left to right: Tim Lee, Sherry Cothren, John Hicks, Bobby Sutliff, Joe Partridge (drums), Duling Hall, Jackson, Mississippi, 2018. (Reid Horn photo/Lee collection)

Tim Lee at Mitch Easter’s Drive-In Studio in North Carolina, circa 1982. (Susan Bauer Lee photo)

and new wave music was sneaking into mainstream corridors, Lee brought it to his hometown hole-in-the-wall, the legendary W.C. Don’s, by booking shows for bands like Rain Parade and Green On Red, who were traveling the indie circuit from far-ﬂung regions of the country. “We just charged money at the door and gave it to the bands, and [the club] sold beer and everybody was happy,” Lee says. “We 78 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

borrowed a P.A. system, and it was incredibly DIY but super fun, and those shows always did pretty well. Jackson always had pretty hip music fans, even before the musicians were really willing to step out and do their own thing.” Along with his friend Bobby Sutliff, Lee was about to break out with the Windbreakers, a power-pop band that shared common influences with many of the jangly-guitar bands he was booking. “Right around 1980 there was this minor, at that point, flowering of groups that were clearly aware of Big Star, this tradition of aggressive, melodic and wonderfully loose-sounding music,” says Howard Wuelfing, a publicist and musician who worked with Lee and Sutliff. “If you compare R.E.M.’s single on Hib Tone and the first Windbreakers [EP], it’s like, okay, everyone’s on an even playing field here. We’re making the same references. It’s not super polished. It’s kind of power pop but more raw.” When the band hooked up with North Carolina producer Mitch Easter in April 1982 to record their first EP, Any Monkey With a Typewriter, Easter played them mixes from R.E.M.’s debut EP, Chronic Town, which they had just completed together. Once R.E.M. broke the scene wide open nationally, the bands’ touring itineraries often overlapped with each other. In September 1986, Lee joined R.E.M. for their encore at Jackson Municipal Auditorium (now Thalia Mara Hall), and then the band hit W.C. Don’s for a late-night jam. “Everybody was cool with everybody, and nobody was really bigger than anybody,” Lee says. “Even though obviously some bands were more successful than others, nobody acted like they were.” Hip indie Homestead Records released the Windbreakers’ 1985

Bark - left to right: Guest Bruce Golden, Tim Lee, Susan Bauer Lee, Duling Hall, Jackson, Mississippi, 2015. (Lee collection)

album Terminal, which included the Lee-penned “All That Stuff,” driven by a memorable guitar riff that split the difference between The Byrds and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. For their 1987 album Run, the band set up at Randy Everett’s Terminal Studios in Jackson, where he and Easter co-produced them. By then Lee was all over the place, recording and performing with another band, Beat Temptation, and touring with Easter’s band, Let’s Active. “There were record stores in each town, there were radio stations in each town, and there was a network that these people could connect on, and Tim was a master of that,” says Nashville music attorney and longtime friend Trip Aldridge. “Tim had connections from the West Coast to the East Coast that could sustain a touring career and a recording career.” But the Windbreakers, and the decade Lee spent on the road, ended in the early nineties, just as the indie scene they helped build went mainstream with bands like Nirvana. He sleep walked through the next several years, disconnected from music and working as a teacher, until one day his wife, Susan, who had been a fixture in his life and work since the early days, decided to learn to play bass guitar. Six months later, they were onstage together. “In my mind, I’d done everything I was ever gonna do in music,” Lee says. “But the fact that I could do it with somebody who hadn’t done all of that, it was like, I get to do this again and I can see it through her eyes.” The duo now performs as Bark—Tim on guitar and vocals and Susan on drums, another instrument she picked up along the way— and have released three albums of their own through their Cool Dog Sound imprint, which has also published the novel “The Mark of Cain” by Oxford musician and writer Tyler Keith, as well as Lee’s 2021 autobiography, “I Saw a Dozen Faces ... and I Rocked Them All: The Diary of a Never-Was.” In recent years, Lee has collected honors from the Jackson Independent Music Week and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, and the label Paisley Pop Records put out Time Machine (1982-2002), a best-of compilation of Windbreakers songs. His

Bark - Susan Bauer Lee and Tim Lee, The Pilot Light, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2022. (Kyle Hislip photo/Lee collection)

transition to Thacker Mountain Radio is merely the next logical step in a career that has been driven by one constant—his love of music. “Booking bands and stage managing is something I’ve always done, and I always loved Thacker Mountain,” Lee says. “We lived in Oxford in the nineties when it started, and we saw some of the very earliest shows. I always thought it was a really cool thing and kept up with it over the years, and we played on it a few times. “There’s no greater feeling than playing music with other people, to me,” he says. “It’s an amazing thing. [But] I tell people all the time, I don’t think of myself as a musician. I’m just the guy that likes to see cool stuﬀ happen, and if I have to make it happen, then ﬁne. I’m not waiting on somebody else to do it.” DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Experience the Local Eats, Beats and Shops of Indianola

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A Santa ‘Sickness’ A saturation of Santas brings a sureﬁre infusion of holiday joy in Hollandale

BY SHERRY LUCAS PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUSTIN BRITT

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Crisp detail and Old World charm unite this tabletop arrangement.

Tinka Bruton’s Santa collection comes out at Christmas, decorating tables, mantels, and shelves, throughout her home. This group welcomes guests at the front door, and in the center stands the newest member of her collection, purchased last season.

anta Claus is coming to town? At Tinka Bruton’s Hollandale home, he never really left.

Santa Clauses (because in this house, they are definitely plural) might be tucked away in a closet or attic for most of the year. But come Christmastime, they flood the decor with white-bearded wonder and a stunning array of interpretations. Bruton’s collection has its roots in the holiday open house traditions of stores in Greenville. “We would go after church—my mother and I, and my sister—and my mother would buy us a Santa from Lina’s,” Bruton says, remembering the early joy that took seed and grew. She was a college freshman at the time, and her sister, a young college grad. “That’s kind of where it started,” Bruton says of Santas that were selected favorites or fun surprises. Her mother had a few Santas of her own—papier-mâché and Fontanini figurines that now fold easily into Bruton’s annual display. After her mother passed, the sisters continued the Santa gift swap for a time. Two years in a row, they gave each other the same Santa, once unintentionally. Bruton’s Santas range from small to tall, handcrafted to

Bruton’s Christmas tree is loaded with keepsakes, heirlooms, and dime store decor. The metallic garland is a Kmart find from years ago that has become a treasure to pull out every year. Below: A unique Bethany Lowe design—Santa astride a reindeer on a wheeled sled—is nestled under the tree.

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The comfortable den in the Bruton home is festively decked out for the holidays with greenery and more strategically placed Santas.

manufactured, Father Christmas types to fun modern twists (one darling Workman Santa wields a paintbrush, another looks like a wild wizard), papier-mâché to resin to ceramic to wood to blown glass and beyond. They crowd the console table, swarm the secretary shelves, make magnificent statements on both mantels, bustle their way onto bookshelves, play hide-and-seek in the Christmas tree branches, hang out on the coffee table, dude up the dining room, and jam into the kitchen. “I laugh, and I make no bones about it,” Bruton offers with a jolly chuckle. “I really do think it has turned into a Santa sickness. “I will say, when I’m shopping with my sisterin-law, ‘Don’t let me buy a Santa,’ and guess what? I’ll walk out with one.” In keeping with Santa’s gift-giving legacy, she 84 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

A goose-holding Santa that rode home in a box with Bruton all the way from an Alaskan cruise with her dad, is perched on the linen press in her den.

has funneled more than a few fur-coated St. Nicks to the next generation and given some to dear friends. “When they were all here—and I’m talking about the ones at my daughter’s, daughter-in-law’s, the cabin—when I would pull them all out, I would get very overwhelmed. Because every one of them’s got to go out.” Why leave a single Santa languishing in the dark during the holiday season, when he could add yet another twinkle to the decor? Her daughter caught her in just one of those weak moments, right in the midst of her overwhelming Santa stash, Bruton says. Surely she just wanted to help. “She’d say, ‘Can I have this one?’ and I’d say yes. And then she’d say, ‘Can I have this one?’ and I’d say yes.” One holiday season, she went to her daughter’s house, spotted

Whimsical versions find a home at Bruton’s, too, such as Kris Kringle in the driver’s seat of a loofah “log” cruiser (destined some day for her daughter), and another one that sports a luxurious gold fur coat and stands alongside a hair-on hide fawn, purchased with her son in mind.

The antique secretary is filled with some of the oldest Santas in the collection. Many of the old jolly creations were purchased at Lina’s long ago. “This represents where it all began,” says Bruton. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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In the dining room, small Santas have a place at the table in the centerpiece anchored every year by a pair of proud stags. Elevating the decor are beautiful ornaments that festively frame the monogrammed napkins—and are a wonderful takeaway from a holiday dinner party. Below: A variety of flocked and shimmering trees adorns the sideboard.

one of them, scooped him up and said, “Sorry … he’s coming back with me.” The collection represents family treasures, gifts, estate sale and antique store finds, boutique discoveries, and general shopping fun. Is there any criteria for which Clauses make the cut? “Not back in the day, but maybe now,” she says, noting the special, one-of a-kind Santas that have drawn her focus lately. On further reflection, she shrugs off the thought of any rigid Santa standard at play. “If I love it, I love it, whether it’s an expensive one or an inexpensive one. I just try to get different,” she says, reveling in the details that distinguish one from another. For the past fiftenn years, elegant figures from Bethany Lowe Designs, inspired by vintage German Santas, have held sway, as a suite of Santas in frosty winter white attests. “Some of them look Old World to me.” Bruton says. “But if I see one that’s fun and festive, I’ll get him, too. “I said I wasn’t going to buy any more. But I did,” she says, 86 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

It’s Claus Central in the kitchen, with old and new holiday treasures in every nook: The festive canisters are a favorite Bruton has had for over thirty years. A Byers’ Choice gingerbread house sets the scene for the impossibly cute figures found at BellaChes in Ridgeland. A cake stand is the perfect perch for a delightful star-wielding Santa bought while shopping with her mother at the Greenville open house years ago.

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Whether the style is Old World Father Christmas or has a more whimsical twist, Santas spread seasonal joy everywhere you look.

On the living room coffee table, a one-of-a-kind Santa by Ohio artist Elaine Roesle draws attention for its handcrafted detail from the curls of his beard to the fur trim in his clothes.

A Vaillancourt Folk Art Santa nestled in a sleigh pulled by a single reindeer was discovered at a Greenville estate sale. Bruton exclaimed, “I just got lucky that day—I probably didn’t pay but $5 for him!” 88 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

pointing out a two-foot figure that tested her resolve and proved irresistible. “I like her work.” Another Bethany Lowe charmer— Santa astride a reindeer on a wheeled sled—holds a delightful spot under the tree. In the kitchen, a Byers’ Choice gingerbread house sets the scene for an adorable display, populated by the impossibly cute figures— Santa and the Mrs. among them—she found at BellaChes in Ridgeland. Mrs. Claus offers a plate of cookies, and Santa’s already snagged one to go with the tiny cup of coffee in his other hand. “This is my Grandpa Santa, and I guess these three represent my grandchildren—this is my grandson, my granddaughter, and my other granddaughter,” Bruton points out the display’s pair of pajamaclad kiddies and a brave little girl dressed for an outing in the snow. The display of Santas around the house is mostly fresh and new every year, as Bruton arranges them on shelves, ledges, and tabletops in a mission of holiday decorating that can take up to a week. A few of the larger ones enjoy permanent places of honor. On the coffee table, a one-of-a-kind Santa by Ohio artist Elaine Roesle draws attention for its handcrafted detail: the cascading curls of his beard; his lovingly painted face; the vintage fabrics and fur trim in his clothes. “I have about eight of hers,” Bruton says, pointing out others nearby, sourced from Lagniappe Gifts in Greenville, Annelle Primos & Associates and EK Home in Jackson, and a shop in Texas. One looks cozy in a chocolate brown jacket and another sports a luxurious gold fur coat and stands alongside a hair-on hide fawn. Whimsical versions find a home at Bruton’s, too, such as Kris Kringle in the driver’s seat of a loofah “log” cruiser (destined some day for her daughter), and “Pine Cone Man,” where Santa’s textured sleeves look like burly brown wool, but actually have that familiar pine cone feel (her son has dibs on that one). There are some oddities

Santas in Bruton’s collection swing from traditional interpretations of St. Nick to fun new ideas. On the living room coffee table, a one-of-a-kind Santa by Ohio artist Elaine Roesle draws attention for its handcrafted detail from the curls of his beard to the fur trim in his clothes.

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This St. Nick pulling his white sled is a memento from a mother-daughter trip to Chicago.

In the den’s fireplace, a pair of Santas flank a festive metal bin brimming with greenery, pine cones, and logs.

From beards to coats to objects in hand, the handcrafted details that distinguish each Santa figure also bring a tactile warmth to their display.

here and there, too, such as the paddle-armed windmill Santa, and a folk art one whose ho-ho-ho face takes up his entire torso. Santa’s smile is everywhere in the kitchen—a ceramic pitcher turned planter, mugs, canisters, plates, wooden bells on the windowsill, dish towels at the oven, and festive felt ribbons that cascade down the cabinetry. About five years back, her collection bursting at the seams, Bruton began giving some Santas away—to her daughter, her daughter-in-law, her neighbor, her niece, and her nephew—to spread that joy around. Plucking one large Santa from her mantel, she shows how it comes apart to reveal a cubbyhole in his robe. It’s the perfect spot to tuck in little treats or a personal note like the one Bruton wrote when her sister’s son and wife tied the knot. She told them she was continuing the collection with them, with a Santa gift at Christmas.

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In the den’s fireplace, a pair of Santas flank a festive metal bin brimming with greenery, pine cones, and logs. A carved-wood St. Nick is dusted with gold on one side, while his brethren in a suit of buff-colored suede, sits on a sled, clutching a small lantern in one hand and a tiny, snow-flocked tree in the other. As much as they are decorative holiday accents, the Santas are also keepers of memory. Bruton points out a goose-holding Santa that rode home in a box on her way back from an Alaskan cruise with her dad, another one in metal that came from Stein Mart, and an all-wood “Old Worldy” representative she found at the Hollandale shop The Front Porch, some thirty years ago. Bruton fondly recalls a Greenville estate sale, and the Vaillancourt Folk Art Santa she discovered there, nestled in a sleigh pulled by a single reindeer. “I just got lucky that day … I probably didn’t pay but $5 for him and I love him! Isn’t he cute?”

In the living room, Santas spread beyond the tabletops, with plenty also tucked in the colorful tree.

“Every single one makes me happy. And, I can’t say that I have a favorite.” She liked one woodsy Santa so much, she bought two— one for her home with husband, Greg, and the other for their cabin at Catfish Point. Her count of eighty Santas just takes into account the ones on display at the house. Wrapping in the ones at the cabin, family pass-alongs and gifts to family and friends, she estimates that about 175 have come through her hands. Some seasons, she’ll need to perform a bit of maintenance on her jolly tribe, such as returning a book to the hands of one, or gluing back the hands themselves on another. She’s got a good track record of Claus care. “After all the years of my collecting, there’s only been one Santa that’s been broken that I literally had to throw away. One Santa,” she marvels. “And, I liked him, too. But, I dropped him and I broke him and it was my fault.” She misses him still, but the regret recedes the instant her gaze falls on another Santa nearby. Her smile flashes right back. That’s Santa, working his magic. DM

Tinka’s TIPS It’s no surprise that Tinka goes the extra mile to make even the simplest gift look extra special. • Use generous amounts of ribbon, mixing different widths and patterns of ribbon to add interest to each present. • Attach beautiful tags and tie on inexpensive ornaments, jingle bells, and other trinkets. • Hit the sales after Christmas to ﬁnd deals on gift wrap supplies and other Christmas accessories to have ready for the next year!

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Sophisticated Little Oxford is Waiting for You

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Ice Skating, Santa & Holiday Cheer in Oxford, Mississippi visitoxfordms.com/hollyjolly @hollyjollyholidaysoxms DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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The Iconic Red Ball

Mississippi State Cheese is a farm-to-family operation with storied roots BY KAREN BRASHER • PHOTOS BY DAVID AMMON

.J. Evans, interim dairy plant manager at MSU, grew up in Winona, Mississippi. In a town that rests right between the Delta and the Hills, Evans said he was a Mississippi State fan from birth.

“My Uncle David [Evans] was a defensive lineman for MSU in the 1970s. He grew up in Jackson and played football with three friends who were inseparable—he and one

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BULLY’S PIMENTO CHEESE Keep MSU pimento cheese on hand during the holidays—it will be a staple for all your holiday parties and gatherings. 1 cup jalapeño cheddar cheese, grated 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated ½ cup mayonnaise ½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 4 ounces pimentos, drained and diced dash black pepper

Mix all ingredients together, taste to adjust seasonings and keep chilled. Enjoy with your favorite crackers, or get creative and serve your pimento cheese one of the following ways: • Scoop into bite-size balls and roll in bacon bits, crushed crackers, or pecan pieces. • Scoop into premade phyllo dough cups (in the freezer section), top with bacon and pepper jelly. Heat at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and serve.

friend went on to play for MSU while the other two played for Ole Miss. Despite the rivalry, they remained lifelong friends,” he said. Like those four friends, in Mississippi, Bulldogs and Rebels alike set aside their athletic rivalry when it comes to celebrating the holidays with family and food. And many holiday spreads in Mississippi aren’t considered complete without Mississippi State University’s iconic Edam cheese. A family’s history is told through their holiday table. The rich flavors, nostalgic smells, and one-of-a-kind tastes tell the story of the family itself as the recipes are carried on from one year to the next, one generation to another. The same can be said for the tradition of MSU cheese. It’s written in its history how the first hoops, or molds for what would

become iconic Edam, made it out of Holland just in time before the ports closed at the start of the Second World War. It’s written in the hands of people like Evans, who moved up through the ranks of the MAFES Custer Dairy Processing Plant starting as assistant cheesemaker twenty-five years ago. The cheesemaking process is hands-on. Cheesemakers prepare the milk, add a culture called a starter, add rennet to curdle the cheese, cut and process the curds and then hoop or mold the cheese. A single vat of cheese takes up to six hours, and cheesemakers produce between two and three vats a day, depending on need. The cheese is then immersed in a salt brine for two days and dried overnight before the wax is applied. The cheese is aged at least three months before it finds its way into the hands of a customer.

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Pair MSU Edam, Vallagret, cheddar, and jalapeno cheddar with your favorite meats and veggies. Have a Hail State Holiday with charcuterie three ways—a delectable wreath, a savory candy cane, or an oh-so-cheesy Christmas tree.

Evans describes the process as a labor of love. While the plant has been upgraded through the years with newer, better equipment, the artisan cheesemaking process itself hasn’t changed much since the days of Professor Frederick Herzer, who sought to, “draw attention to the university like our football team,” and brought Edam production to Mississippi State. “I remember our family being on the waiting list for the coveted MSU Edam and the taste when we finally got our ball of cheese,” said Evans, who still says Edam is his favorite cheese. Currently, the plant has eight full-time employees. The small but hard-working crew produces 50,000 three-pound balls of Edam cheese, 40,000 blocks of cheddar, 10,000 wheels of Vallagret, 5,500 pounds of butter, 25,000 gallons of fluid milk and 5,000 gallons of ice cream each year. Eighteen student workers fill in the gaps helping ship the hundreds of holiday orders sent in November and December, a time when it’s all hands on deck as seven 28-foot trailers of cheese go out with cheese to be shipped across all fifty states and overseas. Evans said he’s proud to be part of such an important tradition at Mississippi State. “MSU cheese is as big of a university tradition as the cowbell and I’m proud to be a part of producing it,” Evans said. MSU cheese is also a story of students and employees who show up to work at the MSU Bearden Dairy Research Center 100 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

long before we’ve brewed our first cup of coffee. Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station staff milk 150 cows, twice daily, 365 days a year. Kenneth Graves is the facility supervisor for the Bearden Dairy Research Center, a part of the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. He also began twenty-five years ago as a student worker, moving up through the ranks, doing every job at the dairy until his current position overseeing the enterprise with eight fulltime employees and about fifteen students. “The dairy has about150 Holstein and Jersey milking cows that collectively produce an average of 1,100 gallons of milk per day. Milking begins at 3 a.m. and happens again at 3 p.m., a schedule in place so student workers can still make it to class by 8 a.m. I like to say we milk seven days a week, 365 days a year, whether that’s your birthday or Christmas Day,” Graves said. Each day, the milk is delivered to the processing plant to make MSU cheese, ice cream, butter, and fluid milk where Edam, cheddar, Vallagret, and pepperjack are each handcrafted and aged with a one-of-a-kind taste that’s sure to endure. As Mississippi families gather this holiday season, MSU cheese will adorn many of their tables, continuing a tradition eighty-five years in the making. DM Karen Brasher is manager of Communications Agriculture and Natural Resources Marketing.

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UP INESCAPABLE GROWING IN THE INFLUENCE MISISSIPPI DELTA

EMILY DORIO

Q&A with Keith Smythe Meacham and Will Hunt Lewis

Keith Smythe Meacham

Will Hunt Lewis

here is a common thread in the lore of the Delta. It’s in the seamless blend of high and low, old and

new. It applies to all facets of our culture, from our music to our food, how we entertain, and even how we live in our homes. We are comfortable with old things and slightly uneasy when a home or space seems too perfect— or new. No one knows this better than two of our own who have taken the influences of their Mississippi Delta childhoods, global travels, and love of design to start their own “click and mortar” businesses. Keith Smythe Meacham founded Reed Smythe & Company with beloved Delta style maven and fellow Greenvillian, the late Julia Reed. Her online shop and Nashville showroom brings its customers carefully curated artisan-made goods for the house and garden, and collaborates with artists across the South and beyond to create beautiful, unexpected pieces. Will Hunt Lewis also hails from Greenville and has had a career in almost every facet of home furnishing from Stems, his full-service floral and event studio—featured in one of our very first issues—to forging a retail merchandising career with companies such as Jonathan Adler, One King’s Lane, and Kravet. Hunt & Bloom, his online vintage and antique shop with a showroom in Houston, perfectly blends his retail background with his Delta roots and love of home furnishings. I recently caught up with Meacham and Hunt to discuss their memories of Delta Holidays, how their upbringing impacted their entertaining and decorative style, who their major design influences were, their favorite entertaining tips—and even their biggest entertaining fails! – CINDY COOPWOOD

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Keith: Every year of my childhood for as long as I can remember, I looked forward to the annual holiday party that Cora Louise Belford hosted at her effortlessly chic Victorian house on Deer Creek in Leland. It was an occasion to bring together three families that had been friends through the generations. We called it the McGee, Smythe, Percy party and the only requirement for getting an invitation was that you belong to one of those families. Children were invited to this grown up affair, and we were decked out in our finest smocked dresses and ran through the house with Shirley Temples and iced cookies in hand while our parents drank Jack Daniel’s or Johnny Walker Red (or in leaner years, Old Charter). I remember the ice clinking in their glasses, cigarettes in hand. Will: The holidays were always my favorite time of year, and I was fortunate to have had both sets of grandparents living in the same town! The season started with Thanksgiving at my father’s parents’ home. My grandmother was the epitome of a Southern cook, and we would feast on hordes of delicious dishes, all prepared by her with no recipes in sight! For Christmas Eve we gathered there again, and we would graze all day on pimiento cheese, sausage balls, “trash,” fudge, divinity, and so much more followed by a feast for dinner. After dinner, we would gather in their living room to open gifts, but it seemed like dinner would drag on and on as we waited for the adults to finish so we could begin to open presents! On Christmas Day after spending hours digging into the treasures Santa would bring, we would head over to my mother’s parents’ home for Christmas lunch, a much more formal affair, and my maternal grandmother was a consummate hostess. Everyone would drink Bloody Marys from sterling julep cups while she would pass smoked salmon and caviar and blinis. We would then gather around the beautifully appointed dining room table and feast on everything from perfectly cooked beef tenderloin to a stunning roast turkey at the impeccably set table. Dessert was always Charlotte Russe, a decadent cold dish that contains copious amounts of whiskey. And yes, the children would also be served dessert, though I could never stomach it. Finally, our Christmas season festivities would always conclude with a cocktail

EMILY DORIO

What are your favorite holiday memories of growing up in the Mississippi Delta?

For Meacham, a nook by the staircase is a prime spot for an impromptu buffet or casual bar during the holidays. She keeps it simple with clipped fresh greenery and a mix of heirloom silver and handblown glasses from Reed Smythe & Company, perfect for wine or other festive libations.

This festive Thanksgiving tablescape points to Hunt’s top three musts for a table: plenty of candles—Hunt & Bloom’s stick candles are a favorite; something fresh or green; and something old—his favorite vintage green goblets and silver flatware. It’s a beautiful mix of old and new! DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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EMILY DORIO

LAUREY GLENN

EMILY DORIO

party hosted by three Delta families—the Percys (my family), the Smythes (Keith’s family), and the McGees.

Who helped shape or encourage your interest in entertaining and/or decor? Keith: I would say Julia was one of my greatest teachers because she was able to articulate so perfectly why something worked or didn’t work, whether it was in a room or on a plate. She was one of the Delta’s great entertainers, like her mother, and I was lucky enough to meet her in New York in my 20s when I was still learning to cook and host grown up parties and was decorating my first apartment. My grandmother Margaret Smythe, and my Aunt Hebe were also inspirations. Hebe’s house on Deer Creek in Leland is still one of my favorites, and I remember as a child vowing I would one day have a room painted this dark muddy brown like the color Hebe still has in all the entertaining spaces in her house. Will: I owe all my interests and passions in decor and entertaining to three people— my mother and both of my grandmothers. I got my love of making things from my father’s mother. She sewed, crocheted, needlepointed, crafted, cooked—she did it all. I was constantly in her shadow wanting to do everything she did. My mother’s mother had exquisite taste and their home 108 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

A stickler for seating arrangements, Meacham uses walnut placecard holders, made in Mississippi for Reed Smythe & Co.

was stunning, filled with family antiques and treasures she and my grandfather acquired during their travels around the world. She was also an expert at entertaining and threw the most gorgeous dinner and cocktail parties. I think I got my love of styling from my mother, whether styling bookcases or cocktail tables. She loves beautiful things and would spend hours pouring over shelter magazines, and styling and restyling every bookcase in our house!

How does your Delta upbringing still influence your entertaining or decorative style? Keith: The houses we grew up in and around were decorated with this wonderful, insouciant mix of antiques and white slipcovered couches (before they were a thing), and Oriental rugs tossed on top

Left photo: A holiday dinner awaits with a colorsaturated table dotted with pomegranates and plums, champagne flutes, purple-hued glassware, twisted candles, and Christmas crackers for each guest. Right photo: In the library—a nod to Meacham’s love of books—casual elegance reigns with linens from famed textile designer Lisa Fine, and framed photography by Jack Spencer—both of whom hail from Mississippi. A pleasingly loose arrangement is anchored in a Reed Smythe mochaware cachepot, with more handblown glassware, and artisan candle holders with stick candles placed around the table.

of woven rush floor mats. Everything had some story or history, but the houses were never fussy. They were lived in. Dogs would lie on the floor in front of a fireplace whose mantel was topped with Old Paris vases, and cocktail glasses would leave rings on the side tables. These sensibilities have stayed with me, and I want my guests to experience this same casual elegance in my home. Will: Growing up going to parties around the Delta and seeing how to really throw a party has really helped shape the career path that I chose and the way that I entertain. Living in the Northeast, I loved throwing parties for friends who had never been to the Delta and seeing how they responded, almost always so impressed with the detail and planning that went in, not to mention the food served that they had never had before. In terms of decorating, you are hard-pressed to find a Delta home decorated in a stark, minimal way—at least when I was growing up. I was raised with a “more is more” approach, filling our homes with treasures passed down from family members and pieces

KATY ANDERSON

Another example of Will’s love of mixing patterns and colors in both tableware and linens—with stunning results every time.

picked up along the way. It’s one reason I love antiques and vintage pieces to this day.

Hunt has mixed old and new designs using his Hunt & Bloom vintage-inspired fox pitcher and cabbage plates, with Vietri salad plates. Modern candle holders, colorful iridescent glass Christmas trees (also pictured left), add sparkle for a delightful set up—perfect for special dinner for two.

KATY ANDERSON

Keith: 1. Books, books, and more books. They are not only beautiful, but add a personal touch. 2. A woodburning fireplace. It makes a house a home. 3. Color! There is a trend in design and decorating these days that relies entirely on whites and neutrals, but I think a complicated mix of color makes a house so much more interesting. Will: 1. Something old. I think a home should have AT LEAST one antique piece. Decorating with antiques brings a bit of history into your home, and each piece tells a story. 2. Books. When I visit someone’s home I love to peruse their shelves to see where their reading interests lie, and I always hope these are titles that the owners are truly interested in, and not just to fill space! 3. Table and floor lighting. While overhead lighting is certainly necessary at times, there’s nothing I like less than being in a home in the evening with the overhead light shining so bright you practically need sunglasses. Set the mood with the warm glow of a gorgeous table or floor lamp.

KATY ANDERSON

Name three things you think every home needs and why.

Now, name three things you think every tablescape needs and why? Keith: 1. Something old. Whether it’s your wedding china or a silver wine coaster handed down, these anchor a table and give it depth.

One of Hunt’s favorite tips for last minute parties is to use various fruits, clippings, or anything fresh to bring life to the table. Plenty of candles, here with vintage barley twist candlesticks and votives nestled in the centerpiece, give ambience. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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How they first met: “I met Will Hunt Lewis (whose mother is a Percy) at the annual McGee, Smythe, Percy party when I was about ten and he six. Will Hunt was the only child who dared to try a bourbon ball. We watched him bravely pop this exotic confection in his mouth and then promptly disappear. We were all atwitter when he resurfaced—sober as a judge, but green around the gills. ‘What happened with the bourbon ball?’ we asked. ‘It’s currently in the front yard,’ he replied. So, it was a rocky start to a long friendship!” – Keith Meacham

For dinner parties, Keith’s formula for success is to keep the menu simple, and to use place cards for seating, ensuring guests enjoy visiting with someone new.

throwing a party with a tight budget, grab all kinds of candles and pepper them throughout the space. Your guests are sure to be impressed with the effect all of this candlelight can have on the mood of the party. Just be sure to blow them all out!

LAUREY GLENN

How often do you entertain in your homes and do you have a go-to menu?

2. Fresh flowers. Arrange them in a vessel that allows you to see who’s across the table. 3. Place cards. I love to make sure my guests are not seated next to their significant others and that they get to talk to someone I think they’ll enjoy. Will: 1. Again—something old! Just like in home decor, it’s so easy to bring a bit of the past into your tablescapes. If you don’t have pieces passed down from family, you can easily pick up very affordable vintage and antique tabletop pieces to pair with your own china or table linens. 2. Candles. I always incorporate candles into my tablescapes, day or night. Tapers, pillars, votives, or tealights, candles add ambiance to the tablescape. 3. Something fresh. A gorgeous flower arrangement is ideal for all tablescapes, but if you can’t get out to pick up fresh flowers, 110 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

just grab apples, oranges—something fresh—and add them to the table, or forage a bit of greenery from your yard or garden. This brings life to the table.

What’s the most underrated (or simple) entertaining tip—that brings the most wow-factor? Keith: Don’t be afraid to add some live music to the mix. Even if it’s just for a part of the party. We live in Nashville now so finding people to play just about any instrument is pretty easy. And there is definitely no shortage of musical talent in the Delta. At a recent dinner party for outof-town guests, I had a very small bluegrass trio play the “Tennessee Waltz” in lieu of a blessing before dinner. Everyone loved it. Will: Massing candles is a super easy way to really turn up the wow factor. If you are

Keith: I entertain all the time. Big parties, small dinners, casual cocktails on the terrace. My favorite menu for both casual and more formal dinners is a beef bourguignon recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook, served with cheese grits, a Bibb lettuce salad with fresh grapefruit and avocado, and a loaf of crispy buttered French bread. Will: We are always on the go, but when things are calm, I love to throw a dinner party. Sometimes we have food brought in for dinner parties, but when I have time to cook, I have a few standbys I love to serve. One is called Green Rice, a recipe from my sister-in-law’s family. It’s a simple combination of parsley, bell pepper, green onion—with not much more than chicken broth, butter and rice. I pair it with either a beautiful roast chicken or steaks and a gorgeous big green salad. Easy and impressive!

Have you ever had an epic dinner party or entertaining fail? Keith: I once hosted a cocktail supper in New York for a very fancy group of journalists that was a disaster. I was in my 20s and desperately trying to impress my guests. In the middle of the cocktail hour, just as we’d finished putting out the buffet

Will, some people find using handmade or vintage with their collections intimidating. Do you have any tips for mixing and matching? I think people are intimidated by trying to mix and match pieces that don’t inherently go together in setting the table. I love to mix old and new. As I mentioned earlier, bringing vintage or antique glassware into your table settings is so easy, and it brings in a bit of the past to your gathering. I have some gorgeous emerald green glassware that belonged to my father’s parents. Its sentimental value far outweighs

its monetary value, but it really makes a statement on the table. If you’re worried about not being “matchy matchy” don’t. It’s far more interesting to have a curated, interesting tablescape than one where everything matches perfectly.

KATY ANDERSON

on the round catering table I’d set up, since I didn’t yet have a proper dining room table, a loud crash erupted and I looked into the dining room to discover that the table legs had not been properly locked on one side and the table had buckled under the weight of my wedding china and my grandmother’s silver trays, laden with the food I’d spent days preparing. My Herend Chinese Bouquet was in shards on the floor and there was Spinach Madeleine splattered on the walls. It was totally humiliating but I remember pouring a huge glass of champagne and carrying on as though it had all been a great lark. Will: Oh yes, unfortunately, and I still think about it. When we lived in New York, we invited a couple over for dinner at our apartment. I had regaled them with the stories of the “Saturday Suppers” of my childhood which for many years consisted of steaks and rice consommé, and how delicious it was, so I decided to host a “Saturday Supper” in New York, complete with steaks, rice consommé, a big salad, and bread. Everything was going well. The rice was in the oven, the salad was made and ready to be dressed, and the steaks waiting to be seared. Suffice it to say that it went downhill from there. A series of events unfolded including setting off the smoke alarm when I seared the steaks, rice consommé that inexplicably refused to cook—causing the steaks to get cold, finding I had no dressing of any type on hand for my salad, and, finally, going to the pantry to get the fresh baguette I’d bought at a great French bakery, and it was nowhere to be found. I must have lost it along the way home. So, my perfect “Saturday supper” ended up being nothing more than steak and undressed salad. I had even forgotten to make or pick up dessert.

Hunt’s woodsy Thanksgiving place setting features Spode's iconic Woodland with his ever-useful vintage goblets, a rattan charger, and Vietri's Aladdin flatware, available at Hunt & Bloom.

Does your family celebrate Thanksgiving with a lunchtime meal or dinner? What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Keith: We have an afternoon lunch at about 2 p.m. I love my mother’s cornbread dressing! Will: We celebrate Thanksgiving with a mid-afternoon meal that satisfies both lunch and dinner. We host about thirty people every year, and I love every minute of it. I make my very favorite dish, my grandmother’s dressing, which was hard for her to put it into recipe form, but luckily my aunt was able to get her to do her best at putting it pen to paper so we have been able to continue to enjoy it every year. I know she is with me every year when I am making it.

What makes Christmas most special at your house? Keith: Christmas morning when my three kids STILL sit on the stairs in the entry hall waiting to see if “Santa” came. They are now 21, 19, and 15, so I don’t know how long the ritual will last, but I love it. Will: I think the most special part of Christmas at our house is our tree—it is filled with ornaments that have been collected over many years and each one has a story. It’s so fun every year pulling out each one and remembering where it came from and the story behind it. I always tend to leave the tree up well past its prime because it is so special to me. DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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‘Tis the Season to Explore Holly Springs

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Bustling Batesville Is the Place to Be

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Title Fight

Novelist Michael Farris Smith hits Hollywood with Rumble Through the Dark, a Southern noir thriller set in the Delta BY JIM BEAUGEZ

PHILLIPS PICTURES

Author Michael Farris Smith catches sunset over the Mississippi River while filming Rumble Through the Dark.

arly in the filming of Rumble Through the Dark, a new feature film from Mississippi novelist Michael Farris Smith, the author spent nearly a week driving his Jeep through the Delta with his director and cinematographer David J. Myrick in tow.

Smith, along with his crewmates who were making their first trip to the Delta, followed dirt roads through crop fields, chasing sunsets amid swirling Delta dust, and filming it all to build a reserve of footage to set the stage for the full production. It not only kept them inspired, but many of those first images filmed also made the final cut, which stars Aaron Eckhart and Bella Thorne and hits theaters November 3 and on-demand services November 10.

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KEN KOCHEY

“The first time we turned on the camera, some of those things are in the actual film,” Smith says. “No music, no lighting, no anything. Just us and a camera, out in the middle of a cotton field at sunset. Anybody who knows the Delta knows what the sunset is like out there— drop-dead gorgeous. It really speaks to the organic nature of that landscape.” Based on Smith’s acclaimed 2018 novel The Fighter, Rumble Through the Dark” chronicles the desperate days of a bareknuckle fighter named Jack Boucher, a lonely figure who has lingered past his prime and is haunted by the Delta vice underworld and the ghosts in his own mind. Years of fighting have left him rattled with pain, which he numbs with painkillers and whisky, and left him with a cruel dementia he tries to overcome by carrying a notebook of names with

notations of who is a friend and who is a foe. In a bid to pay his debt to crime boss Big Momma Sweet, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and to save the home of his dying foster mother, Boucher reluctantly agrees to step into the cage one last time. For Smith, who grew up in McComb and Magnolia, the obvious setting for the novel and the movie, shot around Clarksdale and Natchez in 2022, was the vacuous darkness and emptiness of a Mississippi Delta night. He had begun to visit the region when his writing career took off a decade ago with the release of “Rivers,” his 2013 debut about a man determined to stay in his home on the Gulf Coast amid lawless gangs and rising waters after a relentless barrage of hurricanes make it all but inhabitable. Befriending locals like Jamie Kornegay, a fellow writer and owner of Turnrow Books in Greenwood, made the landscape and

KEN KOCHEY

Aaron Eckhart as Jack Boucher enters the cage for a bare-knuckle showdown.

Smith checks lighting levels on the set.

culture feel familiar enough to creep into the creative nooks of his mind. “When I started writing Jack Boucher,” he says, “he’s driving through the depths of night, he’s feeling all this pain and he’s in trouble. He’s going somewhere deep and dark and he owes somebody money. And I just thought, I know where he’s

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KEN KOCHEY PHILLIPS PICTURES

Left to right: Directors Graham and Parker Phillips, Bella Thorne as Annette, and Ritchie Coster as Baron

KEN KOCHEY

Eckhart in action in the ring, Bottom: He prepares to shoot a gas station ruckus.

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going. He’s driving into the Delta.” Smith’s literary world, which now spans six novels and a handful of novellas, is populated by sneaky snake-oil preachers selling salvation, apocalyptic storms, and malevolent, sinister kudzu that conceals a bottomless heart of darkness. Novels like “Blackwood” are steeped in the supernatural, while Desperation Road, The Fighter and Salvage This World explore characters who live on the fringes of violent and unforgiving worlds. While each work stands fully on its own, the characters and scenes tend to overlap in ways he never intended. The couple who abandons an infant Boucher at the beginning of The Fighter, for example, reappears in his 2020 novel Blackwood, a thriller set in the hills and hollers of northern Mississippi. In a similar way, “Salvage This World” (2023), set in the same southwestern Mississippi region as Desperation Road (2017), can be seen as a sort of prequel to Rivers. “You could look at it as, Desperation Road twenty years later is Salvage This World, and then ten years after that is Rivers, if you put this into a chronology of how this stuff happens,” he says. “Because I’d done it before with Blackwood and The Fighter, I thought, okay, I really love the way that felt. And so here we are again, and I do love the way it feels connecting different novels together.” Smith’s depiction of such unpredictable characters and settings make for great stories that have now reached beyond the literary world. Critical acclaim brought Hollywood to his Oxford doorstep for Desperation Road, now a feature film starring Mel Gibson and Garrett Hedlund and released in October 2023, with Rumble Through the Dark

KEN KOCHEY

Eckhart studies his script between shots.

Eckhart stands in the doorway of Boucher's childhood home, which he must fight to save.

PHILLIPS PICTURES

following closely on its heels. When he wrote “The Fighter,” his first story set in the Delta, Smith was living between Columbus, where he penned the first draft, and his current home in Oxford, where he completed the manuscript. But for the screen adaptation he rented a cabin outside of Clarksdale, where he was surrounded by a dichotomy of trees and wide-open fields, with a small creek winding through the landscape. The isolation proved ideal for transforming his book into a screenplay. “One of my best memories of doing that is just sitting on the porch at night and listening to the sounds of the night and looking at the canvas of stars after having worked all day,” he says. “Sitting there and unwinding without the need of a TV or any music, being part of the Delta night. It was a pretty incredible feeling. I think there’s a lot of power in that, and I think there’s a lot of tranquility, and I think there’s a lot of creativity in it, as well.” Eckhart, who portrays the damaged boxer Boucher, also soaked in the Delta before filming. “He came and lived in the Delta for about five or six weeks before we

KEN KOCHEY

Parker Phillips and Eckhart discuss scenes on set.

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KEN KOCHEY KEN KOCHEY

Director Graham Phillips on location, waiting to get the perfect shot.

Director Parker Phillips and cinematographer David J. Myrick set up a night shoot in the Delta.

PHILLIPS PICTURES

Bella Thorne

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started filming, because he wanted to listen to the accent and see the landscapes and really experience the place. And so when he came into the role, he really tied into Jack Boucher and his pain and loneliness and desperation.” Transforming a novel filled with nuance and literary phrasing into a Hollywood motion picture was a major undertaking, but Smith insisted he write the screenplay to ensure the film didn’t lose the novel’s identifying characteristics. He was also present every day of shooting, interacting with the cast and crew and handling any rewrites that came up. He even moved his family, albeit temporarily, to be closer to the action. Ultimately, though, having a sympathetic executive crew—which included executive producer Tate Taylor, a Jackson native who previously made the James Brown biopic Get On Up, which starred the late Chadwick Boseman, and Academy Award-winning The Help— allowed Smith the leeway to take his novel to the big screen. “Graham and Parker wanted the novel on the screen, and that’s what I wanted,” he says. “Sitting down to work on it, I felt fairly liberated and uninhibited about how to go about it, because nobody was looking over my shoulder, and I could get the core of what we needed in there. “It’s not an easy thing to do,” he adds, “because you love every word. You wanna put the whole damn thing in there, but you can’t.” DM

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Shop Leland for the Holidays

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HOME

A True TREASURE Once forgotten, this humble little cabin is now Cadey and Ford True’s favorite place to share with family and friends 130 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Cozy sofas surrounded by personal touches and a roaring fire make the living area a favorite spot. Trim painted Repose Gray by Benjamin Moore, chosen with the help of friend Chancely Meredith, adds a sophisticated finish to the rustic walls.

BY MARY-KATHRYN HERRINGTON • PHOTOGRAPHY BY RORY DOYLE DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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WHEN CADEY AND FORD TRUE WERE LOOKING FOR A HUNTING CAMP FOR THEIR FAMILY, HE KNEW JUST THE SPOT.

The cabin, built in the ’70s and never repaired after the flood of 2011, had seen better days. Cue the True family!

going to be sold or torn down and that’s all Ford True For years, Ford True has hunted at Burke’s Hunting needed to hear. Although Cadey True had some Club, often near an old cabin that had belonged to longtime reservations, she was convinced to give it a try, having strong friend Skip Graeber’s family for decades. Graeber grew up ties to the club having spent time there when she was a girl. spending time at the cabin and hunting the land, but after the flood of 2011, the damage “I grew up going to Burke’s was so great that he chose not to Hunting Club, my parents had a tackle the repairs and renovations cabin on the River,” says Cadey it required. Like many structures True. With that, the couple along the river after the epic purchased the cabin about flood, it was left to the wilds of eighteen months ago and nature and had become quite immediately began renovations on the property. grown over. When the Trues Built in the 1978, the cabin became serious about looking for was well designed and the a place for their family, Ford True immediately thought of the structure still intact. Although the hidden treasure in the woods that Trues took the cabin down to the overlooked a lovely lake, was near studs, they were mindful to save a few original details, including the their home in Clarksdale, and was original front door and hardware. already filled with memories. It Cadey True also repurposed the was perfect. The True’s oldest sons, Cade and Winford, make Word had come down from themselves right at home among the pumpkins on the original hand-hewn mantel and had it made into two custom the club that the cabin was either front steps. 132 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

The original front door and hardware remain, adding character and welcoming new generations of family and friends.

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Personal details abound, evoking memories of times spent together, such as a favorite hat brought back from Blackberry Farm. Mounts of all kinds placed all around the cabin are reminders of successful hunts over the years.

The beautifully appointed table perfectly blends family heirlooms, including Cadey True’s grandmother’s stunning embroidered napkins, her mother’s Herend tureen, vintage silver, and the True’s new collections as well. 134 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

From the antelope rug, to the floral drapes, to the beautiful but unassuming appointments of the wet bar and dining table, casual elegance reigns supreme.

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Right off the living area is every boy’s dream—a bunk room complete with nooks and ladders, designed and built by Brian Atwood for the True boys and friends.

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The comfortable master suite in neutral tones has pops of deep teal, picking up on the trim color in the Jack-and-Jill bathroom. The Thibaut feather-motif wallpaper is whimsical without being too childish to last as the boys get older.

shelves for plants on the back porch. The screened porch and dock that were original to the house also remained. During the renovation, the Trues primarily kept the the original layout of the cabin, but made a few tweaks to better suit their family of five. One main change was in the kitchen area, which was redesigned, increasing the size, with the help of Clarksdale interior designer Rachel Cirilli. Cadey True uses every inch of the space, as she is an accomplished cook known for her homemade bread, as well as developing and testing recipes for their family business, Heaton Pecans. “We kept the layout pretty much the same, but made the kitchen larger,” she says, adding, “When the boys are all in the woods—I cook. I love to cook!” The Trues, who have three boys, find spending time in the woods the perfect respite. “Ford is an avid hunter and our sons all hunt, so it’s perfect,” she says. “My boys love the woods, they love the simple life, they love a dirt road. They have so much fun just playing in the front yard and we love that for them,” Cadey True says. “It is simple there, and we’re trying to teach them to value that.” The interior of the cabin perfectly combines beauty, simplicity, and comfort. The warm tones of the woodpaneled walls give the space a rustic feel, but they are elevated with a painted gray trim. In the living area, a pair of overstuffed white sofas and other comfortable furniture DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Cadey True’s love of baking is evident as the Thanksgiving meal is topped off with a cookie recipe from Blackberry Farm and Heaton Pecans’ own pecan pie recipe. She enjoys using her collections of silver, glassware, and other accessories as often as possible. A lesson she learned from her mother!

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While remaining in the original footprint, the kitchen was redesigned to be larger, accommodating the busy (and hungry) family. On the counter, the turkey-carving platter is a treasured wedding gift, and loaves of Cadey True’s homemade bread are ready to be served.

provides ample seating surrounding the brick fireplace. “When we built this, I wanted it to have the feel and touch of Blackberry Farm,” says Cadey True. The rustic resort near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee is a special destination.”We go there every year with my parents and it is the most magical place.” The inspiration that she derived from one of her favorite spots is evident throughout the home, from the blanket on the sofa, to a favorite hat purchased at Blackberry Farm that resides conveniently on the hat rack by the door. Sentimental details are found throughout the space. The painting in the left corner of the den by Clarksdale artist Hayden Hall is particularly special. “It’s of my brother Cliff ’s pond. We always plant sunflowers there in the spring to be ready for fall dove hunts,” Cadey True says of the memorial pond built in the family’s pecan orchard to honor her brother who passed away in 2017. Other personal details make it feel like home. A vintage milk churn nestled in the corner was Ford’s great grandmother’s, and the walls are adorned with numerous mounts that hold the stories of many productive days spent in the woods.

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In spite of all the work needed on the original structure, it was the view from the back porch of the lake, Old River Chute, that hooked the Trues as much as anything.

With their three young boys in mind, the Trues added a bunk room with custom built-ins by Brian Atwood, providing plenty of space for their sons and friends to enjoy time at the cabin. The feather plume wallpaper is by Thibaut and the deep teal paint color chosen for the trim and in the Jack-and-Jill bathroom that connects to another bedroom, adds a little whimsy to the space that will grow with them. The renovations were complete in time for the Trues to host their first Thanksgiving at the cabin last year. Every detail, from the menu to the table setting, was considered and filled with sentimental family heirlooms. The table was dressed with vintage napkins that belonged to Cadey True’s grandmother Elsie Heaton, monogrammed in an unexpected teal, providing an unexpected pop of color. The goblets and napkin rings are part of a collection True is working on, acquiring more for holiday celebrations. “The Herend tureen and plates were some of my parents’ wedding gifts. My mom let me borrow those,” Cadey True adds, noting that the turkey-carving platter they used was one of her own wedding gifts. Ford True’s mounts proudly displayed on a wall. 140 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

More details: On the back porch, the original mantel is repurposed as rustic shelves for seasonal plants; the original hardware was restored and used on the front door; a butter churn belonging to Ford True’s grandmother finds the perfect home beside the fireplace.

Cadey True has learned much about entertaining from having her mother, Chris, as a lifelong example—and one of the main takeaways is to use your beautiful things! The table was set with silver, a special nod to Chris’s tradition of always using her silver at gatherings, something Cadey True has enjoyed carrying on her own as she hosts her own celebrations. A stunning arrangement of fall hues nestled in the beautiful tureen was designed by special friends Erick New and Greg Campbell at Garden District in Memphis. The pair has helped the Heaton family with many celebrations over the years. On the menu was the popular Heaton’s Pecan Pie, of course, as well as cookies from a recipe in the Blackberry Farm cookbook. “It was our first Thanksgiving at Burke’s, and it was so sweet having everyone out there,” she says. Sharing a family tradition of hunting for four-leaf clovers, which once found, are saved in a memory book that stays at the cabin, Cadey True emphasizes that whether they are spending time in the woods, in the kitchen, or just out in the yard, their home away from home will be a special place for their family for many years to come! DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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A suite of white stockings welcomes Christmas at the Wilson home, with a unique addition (far right) for the latest grandchild.

Christmas in Clarksdale

THE WILSON HOME IS TICKLED PINK AND LAYERED WITH LOVE FOR THE SEASON

BY SHERRY LUCAS • PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUSTIN BRITT

ayers upon layers of holiday cheer welcome the Christmas season at Bill and Dina Wilson’s Clarksdale home, coating the white furnishings like a blanket of sparkly ornaments on fresh fallen snow.

The elements shimmer with a dash of gold or silver, the luster of pearl, or a fresh peck of pink. They tickle with a touch of whimsy. They glow with the warmth of memory. What’s so pretty on the surface resonates with connection and meaning, the deeper you look and the more you know. “I think December girls love Christmastime,” says Dina Wilson, whose Dec. 13 birthday always put celebrations smack in the middle of the busy holiday season. Her strong emotional, physical, and spiritual connection to the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas took hold early. Wilson vividly describes a church member’s beautiful soprano on “O Holy Night” and the candlelight glow that illuminated every corner and lit every face in the sanctuary. At home, she’d sit on her granddaddy Pop’s lap 144 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

The family room’s Christmas comes alive with colorful ornaments that hold years of wonderful memories.

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Dina Wilson’s favorite color, pink, puts a pretty accent on décor— especially at Christmas.

as he sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” in his best Bing Crosby voice. Decorating, too, is wired into Wilson’s DNA and woven into her traditions. “Growing up, for my birthday party, Momma would let all my friends spend the night and we would flock the Christmas tree. “My mom was all about some Christmas, too, so I came by it honestly,” she says with a merry laugh. “For our family, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.” Wilson is no minimalist. “I love the intentional layers of life that make our house a home.” She has a shed just for storing her Christmas stash and the twenty-seven boxes it takes up, just waiting for each holiday season to burst out with bells on. “It’s ridiculous, but I love it,” she says. “As long as I can do it, I’m going to do it.” With their three children now grown (the youngest, Brett, is a senior at Mississippi State University), there has been a smidge of attrition. She’s gone from seven Christmas trees in the house to four, all flocked and lovingly layered. The big annual splash of seasonal splendor still takes her a good week to accomplish, and the results are still as magical as ever. “I used to be so much more traditional, but now I just like it fun and happy and gay. And, I like the kids to grin,” Wilson says of her decor preferences. “I’m not very formal anymore at all.” Her helpers these days are grandchildren LiLou, 7 (daughter Georgia and Wesley Tindall’s daughter, of Cleveland), and Lawson, 6, and Knox, 3 (daughter Amelia and Chris Stoltman’s 146 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Christmas tree decor in Dina Wilson’s sitting room started with the gorgeous pink balls and blossomed from there.

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Seasonal sparkle makes the Wilson’s dining room shine, from twinkly lights to silver goblets.

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sons, of Clarksdale). They hang all the ornaments at the bottoms of the trees, and she comes along to fill in the rest. The trees are all on remote, so when the grandkids come over and she pops on all the lights, “They’re in awe, and I think that’s just what makes me happy. They’re just so happy, so Bill and I are happy.” The Christmas tree in the kitchen is the most whimsical, festooned with fun in mind. That’s where a unicorn, a camel, ballerinas, toy soldiers, pink marshmallow on sticks, pink Santas and more hang out. “That’s my littlest grandson’s favorite tree, and he will cut that tree on and off forty-two times, literally,” she says with a loving laugh. That’s also the tree most vulnerable to poaching, as ornaments travel home in the tiny hands of admirers. “All the dinosaurs, I think, are gone, and now are on their trees.” The dining room’s neutral base allows for maximum sparkle. On the table, the china is a lovely mixture of Du Barry by Rosenthal Ivory and Queen’s Bouquet by Continental Ivory, inherited from her grandmother, Georgia Connell, and a treasured part of family meals for decades. “I hope my girls will love to use them in their homes one day.” Hand-painted “Twelve Days of Christmas” water goblets, a birthday gift from her sister-in-law Paula Graham one December, make their annual appearance, adding a playful touch to the tablescape. “It’s fun to see which one is in your place setting when you take your seat!” Her Reed & Barton Burgundy sterling shines, as do the Wallace silver goblets that were passed down from Bill’s aunt, Polly Abraham Brocato. “Each one is engraved with her initials, making them extra precious to our family.” The dining room Christmas tree takes on a woodsy flair, with birds and deer, in addition to pretty churches and Santas. On the sideboard, underneath a portrait of daughter Georgia by artist Cristen Craven Barnard, several winter white St. Nicks and twinkly bottle brush trees add a crisp Christmas touch. In Cone trees and Santas bring a festive touch to the foyer.

Wallace sterling silver goblets and hand-painted “Twelve Days of Christmas” glasses are tangible connections to dear relatives, past and present. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Santas and greenery add seasonal warmth to the decor.

another spot, silver and gold Santas help reflect the season’s sparkle. On a side table, a special Nativity scene wraps the Christ child in strands of lustrous pearls. Santas pop up on every surface throughout the house during the holidays, each one a valued reminder of the loved one who gifted it. “It’s such fun to pull each one out of the box every year and find the perfect spot for him to shine.” Wilson’s sitting room—her retreat for Bible study and alone time—is also where her favorite color pink reigns supreme. The Christmas tree continues the pink theme, perfectly framed by pale pink drapes in the window and bedecked in pretty hues, from blush and soft peach to pops of hot pink and fuchsia. “Now, my kids give me little pink ornaments to go on it.” The family room hosts the most colorful tree, with vibrant red ribbons cascading down branches loaded with a lifetime of cherished ornaments. Some were made by children and 150 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

grandchildren. Others hung on Wilson’s own childhood tree. Some are frayed by time and falling apart, but the feelings attached are still strong and intact, so up they go. Tri Delta ornaments were made by her big sister in their days at University of Alabama. Ornaments recall special family trips, such as Jamaica and Rosemary Beach where their daughters were wed, and Camp Greystone, where their granddaughter spent her first summer in the mountains. Ornaments recognize every sport Brett ever played. Even off the tree, holiday memories and greetings and a real Christmas spirit fill the family room, from the angels her children made by hand in elementary school, all nestled on a silver tray with snow, to another treasured Nativity set, cozily nestled in the bookcase. “My Momma started my Nativity when we got married, so I just love that.” A sparkly twig garland arcs over the bookcase for a charming

Holiday fun finds a home in every room of the Wilson’s home. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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A wreath in every window marks the Wilson’s home at Christmas. Below, a twig garland holds the season’s greetings and a treasured Nativity holds a place of honor.

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display of the many Christmas cards that come their way. “I put When all their mismatched Christmas stockings finally wore them up just as fast as they start coming into, and I don’t take out Wilson’s patience, she ordered a suite of lookalike white ones. them down until well in the new year, because I just love looking “And then, of course Knox gets born, so I had to get him a at all those precious people,” Wilson says. “Just so many sweet, different one. But, I like that. I like him being the little toy soldier. sweet folks.” It worked out just fine.” LiLou’s has her name stitched in pink, Even the portrait of Dina and the young boys’ names are and the children above the in blue. mantel has a Christmas Evergreen swag and even connection. One recent more Santas populate the stairs, December, her husband called including a cheeky St. Nick, her at the bank (she’s a loan sitting cross-legged and relaxed officer at First National Bank of like he’s got all the time in the Clarksdale) to tell her their world during the hectic holiday artist friend Hayden Hall, was season. Wilson usually has bringing over another deer Santas parked all the way up the painting for their cabin. Not stairs for decoration (and another deer, she sighed. “So, I irresistible playthings for get there and Hayden comes in visiting grandkids). with a painting of a deer, and The season always graces the I’m like, ‘Oh, OK’ and I tried house with an extra touch of to act excited. And then he A swirl of pearls adds luster to this Nativity scene. brilliance. “The shimmer and went out to the car for a second sparkle of Christmas brings out and he came back in with my babies and me! the very brightest in all the things we already love about our “Omigosh! So, yeah, I do love that!” she says. The scene with home,” she says. her adult children, painted from a Thanksgiving photo taken by It also illuminates the very heart of the holiday. All that her niece Olivia Fields of Charleston, S.C., is a perfect fit in the Christmas cheer is the Wilson’s way of coming together with family room. “We don’t really give gifts like that to each other. I’d grateful hearts to celebrate the joy, hope, and love of God’s most much rather get gifts for the kids.” wonderful gift to the world, His only Son, our Savior. “We But, this was such a dear surprise. “He was so proud. I’m very humbly count His gift as our greatest blessing of all.” DM thankful.”

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Shop Senatobia This Holiday Season

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CINDY COOPWOOD

FOOD

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COOKie Time IT’S PEAK SEASON for cookie baking with cookie swaps, class parties, holiday open houses, church choir receptions, homemade hostess gifts, and guests to feed. Need we say more? We’ve gathered a few recipes that check all the boxes, from simple to fancier—we’ve even thrown in a no-bake cookie the kids will love! BY CINDY COOPWOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA SATTERFIELD

EASIEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES Four simple ingredients make Clevelander Blair Ladner’s peanut butter cookies a breeze to throw together in a pinch. Plus with no flour, they are gluten free. 1 cup peanut butter* 1 cup white granulated sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extra sugar for sprinkling

*If using natural peanut butter, add ¼ teaspoon of salt and use two eggs instead of one. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix together and shape into 1-inch balls. Place on parchment paper and press with a fork making a criss-cross. Sprinkle dough with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with more sugar if desired, and place on wire rack to cool. Makes about 24 cookies, depending on size. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COOKIES Espresso powder enhances the chocolaty richness of these festive cookies. Serve with cold milk or warm hot chocolate for an extra chocolate punch! 1¾ cup all-purpose flour ¼ cup cocoa powder 2 tablespoons espresso powder 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon cornstarch ½ teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons butter 1 cup chocolate chips 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend and set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the chocolate chips and butter. Stir until ingredients are just melted, not allowing chocolate to burn. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts, and set aside. Using a stand mixer, blend the eggs and sugars for 3 to 4 minutes or until thick and pale in color. Pour in the cooled chocolate/butter mixture and stir until well combined. Add in the flour mixture and fold until 160 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

1 teaspoon peppermint extract 2 large eggs, room temperature ¾ cup brown sugar, packed (dark or light) ¼ cup white granulated sugar 1 cup white chocolate chips 1 tablespoon Crisco ⅓ cup crushed candy canes for garnish Christmas baking sprinkles

combined, scraping down sides, but avoid overmixing. Dough will have a shiny consistency and will need to be chilled in fridge for about 10 to 15 minutes so batter can thicken. This helps prevent cookies from spreading too much. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while dough chills. Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out batter using a spoon or scoop, keeping cookies even in size, and place on baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Melt white chocolate chips and Crisco

Photo shoot helper Ida Gray Moore showed up just in time to dunk and sprinkle the peppermint cookies!

in a microwaveable-safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth. Dip one side of the baked cookies into the white chocolate and add crushed peppermint candies and Christmas sprinkles to decorate. Makes 20 to 25 medium-size cookies.

BROWN BUTTER PECAN COOKIES Brown butter gives these cookies a rich, toasty, nutty flavor that is definitely worth the extra steps. These are a special treat—delicious on their own or paired with boiled custard for a holiday dessert.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside. In a separate bowl, add flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda; use a whisk to combine then set aside until needed. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, allowing to cook, swirling the pan occasionally. Monitor this process closely, making sure not to burn the butter! The top of the butter will become foamy, and it will begin to make tiny popping noises. As it browns, the butter will have a slightly nutty aroma, and will develop a rich amber color, with tiny brown bits at the bottom. Once the butter reaches this stage, remove from heat immediately and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars into the mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Next, stir in vanilla, and add eggs and egg yolk one at a time, beating until eggs are just combined. Fold in the flour using a rubber spatula, stirring until just combined. Lastly, fold in the buttered pecans. Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

CINDY COOPWOOD

1¼ cup pecan halves, finely chopped 3 tablespoons butter 2½ cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon cornstarch ¾ teaspoon salt ½ to 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 sticks butter, melted until browned 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed ½ cup white granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature additional pecan halves for decoration, optional

When ready to bake, scoop out approximately 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place onto baking sheets, leaving ample space between each ball for spreading. If desired, press a pecan half on top of each ball of cookie dough. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 11 minutes, making sure not to overbake. Sprinkle warm cookies with granulated sugar when removed from oven. Allow cookies to cool and set up on the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 24 cookies, depending on size. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES What could be better than a no-bake cookie? Super chocolatey, these are a favorite with the kids—perfect for class parties and cookie swaps.

½ 1¾ ⅓ ½ 1 ⅔ 3

cup salted butter cups white granulated sugar cup unsweetened cocoa powder cup milk teaspoon vanilla extract cup creamy peanut butter cups quick oats (not old-fashioned)

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk over medium heat, and cook, stirring frequently, until it reaches a full boil. Allow mixture to boil 60 seconds without stirring. Remove from heat and add in vanilla, peanut butter, and quick oats. Stir mixture until well combined. Using a medium cookie scoop or serving spoon, drop mixture onto baking sheets. If mixture is not firm enough, allow to sit in pan for a few minutes before scooping out. Allow to rest at room temperature until firm and set, about 20 to 30 minutes. To speed up setting, refrigerate. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Makes about 30 cookies, depending on size. 162 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

TIP: Before getting started, place canned pumpkin in a strainer and allow to sit for about 20 to 30 minutes. Some of the moisture will drip out. Then take paper towels and gently blot out some of the excess moisture in the pumpkin. You don’t have to get all of the moisture since we still want the pumpkin flavor in the cookies, but removing some will help with the consistency. Measure out ⅓ cup pumpkin after moisture is removed.

½ cup melted butter, slightly cooled ½ cup brown sugar, packed ¼ cup white granulated sugar ⅓ cup pumpkin puree, drained and blotted (See tip above) 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup white chocolate chips 4 tablespoons white granulated sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon additional white chocolate chips for topping

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. In a medium-sized bowl, blend together melted butter, brown and white sugars, pumpkin, egg. and vanilla extract. Place next 7 dry ingredients in a large bowl, whisking together to blend well. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Fold in white chocolate chips. Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

CINDY COOPWOOD

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN COOKIES The goodness of pumpkin bread, but in cookie form. Perfect with with a warm cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk for an afternoon snack. Tuck into lunch boxes—or even sneak a few for breakfast!

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for rolling dough. Scoop out dough, forming 1˝ to 1½˝ balls. Roll each cookie dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Arrange the dough balls on baking sheets, spacing out three across and pressing down to flatten slightly. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are set and beginning to brown. Cookies will be cakey and very soft when you take them out. While they are still warm, sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon sugar and top with more white chocolate chips, if desired. Allow cookies to set up on cookie sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Makes about 20 cookies, depending on size. DM DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Charming Corinth Is Calling You

166 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Financial solutions focused on your business needs.

Given today’s market challenges, working with a local dedicated team driven by a shared vision can make all the diﬀerence. Regions Commercial Relationship Managers know that developing a strong understanding of your business and its unique operations helps us provide highly responsive, personalized solutions. Let us leverage our capabilities and create a comprehensive ﬁnancial strategy to help guide and strengthen your business. Ryan Strawbridge | Market Executive Commercial Relationship Manager 662.644.4088 | ryan.strawbridge@regions.com Commercial Banking | Treasury Management | Capital Markets | Specialized Industries

regions.com/commercial-banking © 2023 Regions Bank. Banking products provided by Regions Bank. Only banking deposit products are FDIC insured. All loans and lines subject to credit approval. | Regions and the Regions logo are registered trademarks of Regions Bank. The LifeGreen color is a trademark of Regions Bank.

168 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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HISTORY

I Will Lift up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills Loess Bluff Hills form the Delta’s Eastern Border BY WADE S. WINEMAN, JR.

ew people, it seems, devote much thought to the stately line of bluffs separating this YazooMississippi Delta of ours from the uplands to the east. This geological feature, a narrow band of hills varying from fifteen to thirty miles in width, is classified as one of six major soil regions in Mississippi.

The bluffs circumscribe the Delta, forming its eastern border and running generally from Memphis to near Vicksburg. From Vicksburg south, they continue along the Mississippi River to below the Louisiana state line. Although few drivers would describe bluff views as stunning—as might be the case when encountering landscapes like the Grand Tetons—many approaching travelers enjoy seeing the bluffs as they loom over the monotonously flat Delta. 170 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Outdoorsmen of our state have long appreciated the abundance of wild game found in these hills. Others acknowledge the region’s timber potential and its rugged, alluring landscapes. Native plant enthusiasts admire the region because its is home to several eyecatching woodland species, including flowering dogwood, southern magnolia, chickasaw plum, and the breathtaking bigleaf magnolia, whose enormous, elephant-eared leaves and white, twelve-inch-wide flowers impart a tropical feel to the hills. The most distinguishing characteristic of the Bluff Hills, however, is its soil. How unique is the soil found there? So unique that these hills have derived their name from that of their soil: loess. Even today, many residents of our state refer to these hills as the “Loess Bluff Hills” or “Loess Hills.” The name, loess, is derived from the type of soil found in the upper strata of the hills. Loess soil was first studied in Germany, and the word, loess, is a German word, meaning, “loose”—an

LEE WINDHAM, COURTESY CLAIRMONT PRESS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Location of Loess Bluff Hills in Mississippi

Those traversing the Bluff Hills today will encounter landscapes that are dissected by deep, steep-side ravines and gullies. Before human settlement, the topography of the hills is thought to have been more gently sloping and rounded in shape than it is today. A change in its topography seemed to begin in the early 1800s, coinciding with great settler immigration and the dawning of the plantation era. The influx of newcomers to the hills was primarily triggered by three catalysts: the worn-out soils left behind in the Atlantic states, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, and the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Following the cotton gin’s invention, cotton replaced

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

appropriate name because it accurately describes one of the soil’s primary characteristics. The pronunciation of the word, loess, is not well-understood, and even Mississippi residents find its pronunciation difficult. Most people tend to pronounce the word as LOW-ESS. However, geologists and other scientists use the actual German pronunciation, which is LERSS, or LUSS. The distinguishing characteristic of loess soil is that it was distributed by wind, unlike other soils that were deposited by water. Geologists believe that Mississippi’s loess deposits originated far to the north, during the Pleistocene Ice Age. As the glaciers covering what is now Canada and the northern Untied States moved slowly, they ground up bedrock and other rock debris into a fine flour-like substance known as “rock flour.” Following the Ice Age, the finegrained rock debris was dropped by melting glaciers and deposited downstream by the Mississippi River in its Delta flood plain. During later, more arid climate periods, powdery loess soil was gradually re-distributed by prevailing westerly winds, adding height to existing bluffs. Loess is a nearly pure form of silt, neither too sandy nor too clayish, and it is high in both organic matter and water availability. Mississippi’s deposits are deepest along the western edge of the bluff hills, decreasing in thickness as they extend eastward. Loess is not unique to Mississippi, however. Other significant deposits are found in Louisiana, as well as in the U.S. Great Plains and in other areas north of our state. Unusually large deposits are found in the Rhine Valley of Germany, China, and Ukraine. Loess distribution in North America is shown on the map. The first Europeans who encountered the Loess Hills were most likely members of the De Soto expedition, in 1541. Long before his arrival, Indian tribes had occupied both the low-lying Delta region and the Loess Hills. Many tribes were attracted to the hills for the same reasons that later motivated pioneering settlers, establishing villages where they could avoid the floods and swarming mosquito populations of the Delta. The rich loess soils of the hills provided a cornucopia of natural foods, while also producing bountiful harvests of cultivated crops, particularly maize. The hills also offered Indians a convenient jumping-off point into the Delta’s bottomlands, which were teeming with beaver, fish, and wildlife. Tribes that were indigenous to the Loess Hills before European arrival included the Taposa, Chakchiuma, Ibitoupa, Tiou, Tunica, Ofo, Yazoo, Taensa, Natchez, Houma, and the Chickasaw—which is thought to have been the last group of Native Americans occupying the region.

Bigleaf magnolia has the largest simple leaves and largest flowers of any tree indigenous to North America.

Magnolia macrophylla, or bigleaf magnolia DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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U.S Geological Survey

tobacco as the leading cash crop in the South, and pioneers began realizing the financial opportunity that existed in the Loess Hills. Noticing the unusually large sizes of trees in the region, newcomers found its underlying soils to be high in fertility, tilth, and internal drainage—all necessary requirements for profitable cotton growing. Soon after pioneer migration had begun, cotton production roughly doubled in each decade of the nineteenth century, with the crop eventually contributing more than half of the nation’s exports. The soils in the alluvial Delta bottomlands were known to be about as productive as loess but were vulnerable to frequent flooding. Early on, cotton production in the Delta was considered to be economically viable only on the highest natural levees along streams, but such areas comprised only a small percentage of the region’s total land area. As a result, until Indian treaties were finalized—between 1820 and 1833—settlers generally avoided the Delta. Consequently, in the early 1800s, the Loess Bluff Hills became a primary focus of the first immigrants, with tens of thousands entering the region. According to The South: Its Economic-Geographic Development (Parkins, 1970), by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Loess Hills region of Mississippi was among those with the highest population densities in the southeast—between eighteen and forty-five men per square mile. The creation of a new cotton culture in Mississippi meant that many acres of land would need to be opened; accordingly, clearing of the bluff hills’ virgin forests was begun in earnest by settlers. Initially, few immigrants realized that large-scale timber removal would result in one of the most destructive land-use practices ever witnessed in the South. Although the fertile loessial soils were wellsuited to crop production, they were loose and unusually fragile, and farmers soon realized they could do little to prevent soil loss in fields with sloping topography. Once stripped of its protective forest canopy, the delicate loess topsoil immediately began eroding. Rain, of course, was the primary agent of destruction, and each rain event seemed to cause the disappearance of more topsoil. Soon, the previously rounded hilltops 172 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

began assuming gnarled, deformed appearances. Small gullies turned into larger ones, and many soon became deep, steep-sided ravines. During the early years of pioneer settlement in the hills, various methods of minimizing erosion were attempted, including terracing and changing row direction. All were relatively ineffective and generally failed. Few planters attempted such practices, however. At the time, an inexhaustible supply of cheap land seemed to be available. Therefore, most operators abandoned their worn-out land after only a few years and moved on to new locations, leaving behind tortured landscapes. The cycle was described well in a dissertation published at Louisiana State University by Igor Ignatove, “This rather unique reluctance of a southern planter to take responsibility for land stewardship was based on the rude economic realities of the southern frontier. The land on the frontier was cheap, whereas the prices for slave labor tended to be very high. This unfortunate combination meant destruction for both the land and the forest because, from the standpoint of a large landowner, there was no economic sense to invest time and effort in land and thus ‘waste’ the labor. Instead, quite understandably, he preferred to waste the land.” (1) As severely eroded hillsides became more prevalent, the state of Mississippi began investigating other methods of erosion control. One of the most extensive efforts was the planting of kudzu, an imported vine later described by author Willie Morris as “a sinister force.” Kudzu was first introduced at the 1876 World’s Fair Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, but its use did not become widespread until the mid-1930s, when land destruction wrought during the Dust Bowl era was addressed. The new plant seemed to be a miracle solution to the erosion problem and soon was widely touted as a soil-stabilization method. The U. S. Soil Conservation Service encouraged its planting by offering payments as high as eight dollars per planted acre, a program resulting in the planting of approximately 1.2 million acres of kudzu. By 1953, however, after deciding that the vine did as much harm as good, the Soil Conservation Service had begun discouraging kudzu’s use. In 1998, the U. S. Congress officially listed kudzu as a “federal noxious weed.” By then, kudzu had become known as “the vine that ate the South” and had, by most estimates, blanketed millions of acres in that region alone. Various agencies, including the Mississippi Forestry Commission, still offer cost-share payments

Road cut through loess soil near Natchez, Mississippi.

JAN KRONSELL. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

A section of the historic Natchez Trace, its loess soils worn by the footsteps of thousands of travelers and horses.

LOESS INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI. MISSISSIPPI GEOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 1968

to land owners who try to control the vine. Kudzu eradication was never able to overrun the town. The siege ended only after the efforts, however, have generally proven ineffective. (2) town’s supplies had been completely cut off and its citizens starved Erosion in the bluffs has created challenging terrain for out. In his memoirs, General Ulysses S. Grant described the hills’ outdoorsmen and hikers who are new to the region. Extreme loess soils at Vicksburg in the following manner: “The ridges upon gradients are common; the constant up-and-down nature of foot which Vicksburg is built, and those back to the Big Black, are travel requires good stamina and can frazzle one’s legs, as this writer composed of a deep yellow clay of great tenacity. Where roads and has experienced. Numerous creek bottoms also dissect the hills. streets are cut through, perpendicular banks are left and stand as Although most are charmingly fringed with native ferns, they present well as if composed of stone. The magazines of the enemy were another problem: copious deposits of quicksand, resulting from made by running passage-ways into this clay at places where there loessial material displaced from old, abandoned fields. While were deep cuts. Many citizens secured places of safety for their attempting to cross such streams, this writer has often seen one of families by carving out rooms in these embankments. A door-way his legs swallowed by quicksand, in these cases would be cut in a up to the groin. Extricating high bank, starting from the level oneself from such situations is of the road or street, and after surprisingly difficult, usually running in a few feet a room of necessitating that one lie the size required was carved out completely prone and forcefully of the clay, the dirt being roll sideways. removed by the door-way. In Ironically, although loess soil some instances I saw where two severely erodes on sloping sites, rooms were cut out, for a single when cut vertically, its internal family, with a door-way in the cohesiveness allows it to stand clay wall separating them. Some intact for many years. Numerous Vertical, terraced highway cuts on U.S. Highway 61 bypass near of these were carpeted and examples of this can be seen Vicksburg, Mississippi. furnished with considerable today in highway road cuts and in bends of stream channels. This elaboration. In these the occupants were fully secure from the shells peculiarity of loess affected the Vicksburg Campaign of the Civil of the navy, which were dropped into the city night and day without War in several ways. For example, the Confederate army was able to intermission.” excavate an extensive network of vertical-walled, defensive trenches The Loess Bluff Hills are one of the most unusual regions in our around the town. The soil’s stability also enabled Union troops to state and are unrivaled in beauty and charm. Just as they attracted tunnel under Confederate lines and plant explosives. On one such the attention of both Indian and settler, these highlands, in spite of early exploitation, continue to evoke feelings of awe and reverence occasion, the resulting explosion gouged a crater twenty feet deep and fifty feet wide underneath the 3rd Louisiana Infantry’s in the eyes of those who “lift up their eyes unto the hills.” DM fortifications. Similarly, Vicksburg citizens, trying to survive constant SOURCES: artillery shelling, were able to excavate underground “cave homes” (1) Natural History and Phytogeography of the Loess Hills and Ravines, Lower in the soil. A diary written during the siege by an ancestor of the Mississippi Embayment. By Igor Igorevich Ignatov. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. 2001 writer’s wife describes day-to-day life in just such a cave home. (2) Mississippi Encyclopedia. October 12, 2017 The Vicksburg siege lasted forty-seven days, but the Union army DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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EVENTS 2023 NutRemix, November 17–19

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party, November 4–5

FESTIVALS, MUSIC & FUN THINGS TO DO

David Nail, November 11

November 1–4

November 4

Jackson

November 4, 8 am

Olive Branch

Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival

Walls Fall Festival

Rivertown Christmas Crawl

Jackson State University jsums.edu

Minor Memorial UMC minormemorial.org

wceams.com

November 4–5 November 1–4

Jackson

Mistletoe Marketplace

Jackson

MS Symphony Orchestra Concert American Constellation

Mississippi Trade Mart mistletoemarketplace.com

November 2, 7:30 pm

November 4, 7:30 pm

Cleveland

November 5, 9:30 am November 4, 8 pm

Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

George Thorogood and The Destroyers Memphis

Halloran Centre orpheum-memphis.com

Broad Ave Arts District broadavearts.com

The Magic of Rob Lake, November 11

Lina’s Interiors linasinteriors.com

Grenada

When Pigs Fly in Grenada BBQ Contest Downtown Square visitgrenadams.com

November 3–4

Southaven

DeSoto Film Festival SouthPoint Church desotofilmfestival.com

November 3–25

Broad Ave Art Walk 2023

Leland

Cocktails & Candy Canes

November 3–4

Memphis

Hernando

Fall Fiber and 3D Art Show DeSoto Arts Council desotoarts.com 176 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Memphis

Memphis Japan Festival Memphis Botanic Garden memphisjapanfestival.org

November 5,1 pm November 4

November 3, 4 pm

Tunica

Gold Strike Casino Resort goldstrike.com

Robert Moody presents The Orchestra Unplugged: Scary Music!

Memphis

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party FedEx Forum fedexforum.com

Thalia Mara Hall thaliamarahall.net

Pablo Cruise

November 2, 7:30 pm

Greenville

Yazoo City

Yazoo City Christmas Open House Downtown Main Street visityazoo.org

Little Satchmo Screening, November 5 Little Satchmo Documentary, November 7

NOW OPEN IN MISSISSIPPI 1907 Lisa Dr. Greenville, MS 38703

29 S 4th St. Rolling Fork, MS 39159

706 US Hwy 82 Greenwood, MS 38930

November 5, 2 pm

Jackson

Little Satchmo Screening Two Mississippi Museums 2mm.mdah.ms.gov

November 7, 6 pm

Cleveland

Little Satchmo Documentary

(844) 215-0731 • WWW.PTCOA.COM

Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

November 7–11

Jackson

Harvest Fest Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum msagmuseum.org

November 8, 8:30 am

Southaven

11th Annual Annie Ruth & Winn Brown Veterans Breakfast & Program Landers Center landerscenter.com

November 9, 11 am

Olive Branch

Veterans Day Luncheon Olive Branch Senior Center obms.us

November 9, 5 pm

Greenwood

Holiday Open House Downtown Greenwood greenwoodmschamber.com

Adam Sandler: The I Missed You Tour, November 16 178 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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Ashley McBryde–The Devil I Know Tour, November 11

November 9–11

Grenada

Grenada Chamber Christmas Open House Downtown Grenada greatergrenada.com

November 9–11

Southaven

4th Annual Christmas Open House Silo Square silosquarems.com

November 10, 11 am

Southaven

Annual Veterans Day Luncheon Southaven Community Safe Room southaven.org

November 10, 8 pm

Memphis

Straight No Chaser Graceland Soundstage gracelandlive.com

November 10–12

Memphis

Memphis Comic & Fantasy Convention Holiday Inn at the University of Memphis memphiscfc.com

November 10–12

Hernando

Hernando Dickens of a Christmas Hernando Courthouse Square cityofhernando.org

November 11, 9:01 pm

Memphis

Rise. Run. Restore 901 Beale St. & B.B. King’s Blvd raceroster.com

November 11, 7:30 pm

Memphis

David Nail Graceland Soundstage gracelandlive.com

November 11, 7:30 pm

Memphis

The Magic of Rob Lake Halloran Centre orpheum-memphis.com

November 11, 8 pm

Memphis

Ashley McBryde–The Devil I Know Tour Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

180 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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November 11, 11 am

Starkville

4th Annual Starkville Veterans Day Parade Downtown Starkville starkville.org

November 11–12

Memphis

Memphis Flyer Crafts & Drafts Crosstown Concourse memphiscraftsanddrafts.com

November 11 -12

Cleveland

Holiday Open House Downtown Cleveland visitclevelandms.com

November 11–January 1

Cleveland

50 Nights of Lights Downtown Cleveland 50nightsoflights.com

November 12, 12 am

Cleveland

St. Jude Turkey Trot Crosstown Fellowship Church visitclevelandms.com

November 12

Hernando

Ballet DeSoto presents The Nutcracker Ballet Hernando Performing Arts Center desotocountyschools.org

November 13–December 31

Grenada

Christmas Lighting Display Downtown Grenada greatergrenada.com

November 14, 7:30 pm

Memphis

Rumors of Fleetwood Mac Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

November 16, 7:30

Memphis

Adam Sandler: The I Missed You Tour FedEx Forum fedexforum.com

at MEMPHIS MUSEUM

OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

planetarium starlight

holiday movies & live music

begins Nov 18 moshmemphis.com

182 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

November 16, 7:30 pm

Cleveland

Larry, Steve, & Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

November 17–18

Jackson

Handworks Holiday Market Mississippi Trade Mart handworksmarket.com

November 17–19

Memphis

2023 NutRemix Cannon Center for the Performing Arts newballet.org

November 18, 7:30 pm

Marcia Ball Halloran Centre orpheum-memphis.com

Memphis

Statement of Ownership, management, and circulation for Delta Magazine. Publication No. 022-954 as of September 1, 2023. Six issues published bi-monthly for a subscription rate of $28 at P.O. Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732. The names and address of the publisher and editor: Publisher and Owner, Scott Coopwood, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732; Editor, Cindy Coopwood, PO Box 117, Cleveland, MS 38732. Average No. of Copies Actual No. of Copies Each Issue During Single Issue Published Preceding 12 Months Nearest to Filing Date

Total no. of copies printed Paid circulation through mail Paid circulation through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales Paid circulation by other classes of mail through the USPS (First-Class, Priorty) Total paid distribution Free distribution through mail Free circulation by other classes of mail through the USPS (First-Class, Priorty) Free distribution outside mail Total free distribution Total distribution Total Percent paid Paid electronic copies Total paid print copies and paid electronic copies Total print distribution and paid electronic copies Percent paid

9,050

9,000

5,901

5,965

804

715

6,755

6,720

1,464

1,082

646 2,130 8,885 9,050 76.03% 27

685 1,782 8,502 9,000 79.04% 27

6,782

6,747

8,912 76.1%

8,529 79.11%

I certify that the statement made by me above is correct and complete. (Signed) Scott Coopwood, Publisher

Merry 䌀ristmas! “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

COMMUNITYBANK.NET | MEMBER FDIC

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Shop Charming Clarksdale for the Holidays

184 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Memphis Finest Comedy Show, November 19

November 18 -19

Southaven

Southern Flea Market Landers Center landerscenter.com

November 19, 6 pm

Memphis

Memphis Finest Comedy Show Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

November 21–26

Memphis

Six Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

November 22, 8 pm

Memphis

Anita Baker: The Songstress FedEx Forum fedexforum.com

November 24–December 31

Memphis

Starry Carriage & Hayrides Shelby Farms starrycarriagerides.com

November 24, 7 pm

Southaven

Cirque Dreams Holidaze Landers Center landerscenter.com

November 25, 6 pm

Stay in the Know of Who Comes and Goes

Memphis

M-town Funk & Blues Fest Cannon Center for the Performing Arts thecannoncenter.com

November 29, 7:30 pm

Memphis

Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

November 30, 8 pm

Memphis

Nurse Blake Shock Advised!

Control your gate from ANYWHERE!

Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

November 30–December 3

Greenville

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life

Hunting Camps • Residential • Commercial

Delta Center Stage deltastage.com

FREE ESTIMATES - CALL

November 30–December 3

Winter Wonderettes The Gin at Nesbit theginatnesbit.com

Nesbit

662-500-0188 thegatemaninc.com DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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December 1, 4 pm

Jackson

Capital City Lights Downtown Jackson capitalcitylights.com

December 1 6:30 pm

Memphis

Holiday Spirits: A Christmas Cocktail Festival The Kent memphisfestivals.com

December 1–2

Memphis

Rock ‘N’ Roll into the Holidays Graceland Soundstage graceland.com

Leanne Morgan–Just Getting Started, December 2–3

December 2, 8 am

Starkville

Museum Miles: Race through History 5k Run/Walk

FedEx Forum fedexforum.com

Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum 5k starkville.org

December 15

December 2, 9 am

Leland

Christmas on Deer Creek

Cannon Center for the Performing Arts worldballetseries.com

Downtown Leland lelandchamber.com

December 16, 8 pm

December 2, 6:30 pm

Memphis

Graceland Soundstage gracelandlive.com

Cannon Center for the Performing Arts memphissymphony.org

December 17, 2 pm

Robinsonville

Rodney Carrington

December 2

Memphis

St. Jude Memphis Marathon B.B. King Blvd stjude.org

December 19

Memphis

Leanne Morgan–Just Getting Started Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

December 5, 7:30 pm

Cleveland

Diamond Rio Holiday & Hits

December 20

Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

Memphis

The Illusionists–The Magic of the Holidays

Homestead for the Holidays

Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum msagmuseum.org

December 29

December 7–8

Jackson

Gold Strike Casino Resort goldstrike.com

The Great Hall & Conference Center midsouthtoyfest.com

December 30

Germantown

Tunica

Scott Stapp

Midsouth Toy Fest 2023

Greenville

The Oak Ridge Boys

Ballet Memphis–The Nutcracker

Harlow’s Casino & Resort harlowscasino.com

Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

December 30–31

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Memphis

Drew & Ellie Holcomb’s Neighborly Christmas

December 28–29

Bologna Performing Arts Center bolognapac.com

December 14, 7 pm

Memphis

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical Orpheum Theatre orpheum-memphis.com

December 2–3

December 9–17

Jackson

Ballet Magnificat! Presents: “Most Incredible Christmas” Thalia Mara Hall balletmagnificat.com

Horseshoe Casino caesars.com/tunica

December 9

Memphis

Black Jacket Symphony

Magic of Memphis

December 2

186 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Memphis

The Nutcracker

Memphis

Clarksdale

New Year’s Eve at the Crossroads Memphis

Various Venues cathead.biz

THERE’S NO PLACE Statewide LIKE YOUR HOMETOWN CREDIT UNION

LITERARY EVENTS

FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Jesmyn Ward

Let Us Descend November 1, 7 pm: The Powerhouse, Oxford November 4, 2 pm: Gerturde C. Ford AC Recital Hall, Jackson Sydney Thompson

The Forsaken and the Dead November 2, 2 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson Kacey Kowars

Chasing the Queen’s Gambit

Buy Or Reﬁ Home Loans

November 2, 4 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson

• COMPETITIVE RATES Amy Lauren Miller & Maggie Russell

• EASY APPLICATIONS

Blue Bruce the Christmas Spruce

• OPTIONS FOR EVERY BUYER

November 4, 2 pm: Novel, Memphis Susan Cleland & Sherye Green

Banking With Roots.

Mission Vigilant

statewidefcu.org 1.800.682.6426 Federally Insured By NCUA NMLS #405509

November 9, 5 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson Alice Faye Duncan

Coretta’s Journey & Traveling Shoes

StatewideCU Ad 4.625x4.75-8-23.indd 1

8/23/23 10:06 AM

November 11, 2 pm: Novel, Memphis Tom Clavin

The Last Outlaws November 14, 5 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson Grace Hale

In The Pines November 14, 5:30 pm: Off Square Books, Oxford Wyatt Waters

Wyatt Waters Calendar 2024 November 18, 12 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson November 24, 11 am: Lemuria Books, Jackson Kate Medley & Kiese Laymon

Thank You Please Come Again November 21, 4:30 pm: Lemuria Books, Jackson Margaret Renkl

The Comfort of Crows December 4, 6 pm: Novel, Memphis

DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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g n i d d e W SHOWCASE

2024

MARCH/

APRIL 202 0

Wehdedin Iss g ue

Don’t miss your chance to be part of the Most Southern Wedding event of the year—AND to be considered to be the Delta Magazine cover bride!

March/April 2024 We are now accepting submissions for our

2024 Wedding Showcase For more information visit: deltamagazine.com and select weddings

DEADLINE: January 19, 2024

DELTA M

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Ring in the Season in Yazoo City

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YAZOO CITY

662.746.5031

DOWNTOWN MAIN STREET

Come join us for our Christmas Open House

Jingle & Mingle Sunday, November 5 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Historic downtown Yazoo City is centrally located in our great state of Mississippi. Originally built in 1905, the buildings have been updated with colorful storefronts and 昀lled with love for you!

Come Stay | Dine | Shop Locally DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES 101 Nutrition 662.763.9929

Good Hope Merchandise 662.746.7776

Anderson’s Jewelry 662.746.5024

Main Street Hotel of Yazoo City 662.751.8886

Bow Ties and Tutus 662.763.5270 Downtown Marketplace 662.746.5031 Ferguson Furniture 662.746.1802

We Think We Can Vinyl and Blanks 601.954.9217 Webb’s Pharmacy 662.746.3253

Main Street Market 662.571.6655 Tom’s on Main 662.716.0505

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IT’S MORE THAN WHERE WE WORK, IT’S WHO WE ARE.

VIKINGRANGE.COM

LY N X G R I L L S . C O M

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GREENWOOD, MS

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DELTA SEEN

Leanne and Alan Silverblatt, Carol and Ken Wood, and Lisa Sledge

Young Ideas 50 year anniversary October 5, 6 and 7 in Indianola

Rebecca Barrett, Drew and Diane McDowell

Leann Davis and Edith Clanton

Libby Robertson, Sam Silverblatt and Leann Davis

Leanne Silverblatt, Laura Gresham and Alan Silverblatt

Alan Silverblatt, Jane and Mary Long with Julia Fiary

Leanne and Alan Silverblatt with Jeana, Caroline and Karlee Lott

Leanne and Alan Silverblatt with Elizabeth, Thomas and Ellie Jack

Beth Ducrest, Alan Silverblatt and Marvie Fitts

Alan Silverblatt, Brett Friedmann, and Leanne Silverblatt

Suzanne Jefcoat, Alan Silverblatt and Cindy Baird

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2nd Chance MS Party on the Green 2023 Fundraiser on October 5 Photos by Joey Brent David Rae Morris Book signing in Clarksdale at the Travelers Hotel on October 4 31st Annual Tennessee Williams Festival in Clarksdale on October 12-14

Irma Buchanan and Henry Paris

Diane Scruggs and Marla Lomax

Dick Scruggs and Paula Brahan

DELTA SEEN

Sarah Rose Lomenick, Cassidy Grace Porter, Cindy Coopwood, Zach Scruggs and Scott Coopwood

Kathleen Williams, Zach Scruggs, Amanda Williams, Rachel DeVaughanPatrick, Beth Little, and Brandi Ratliff

Jack Garner and Diane Scruggs

Eva Connell and Amanda Crumley

Karen Kohlhaas and Mary Thompson

Leigh and Buddy Bass

Paul Pearson, Jen Waller, Eva Connell, and Joel Vig

Kyle Daigrepont, Judy Lea Steele, Johnny McPhail, Augustin Correro, Matt Story, Susan McPhail, Alison Logan and Maile Zox

Bill and Ben Powell

Jeremy Lawrence, John Linville, and Diana Butler DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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DELTA SEEN

GRAMMY Museum Mississippi 5th Crossroads of American Music Award Gala in Cleveland September 28 Photos by Lyndsi Naron

Alex Janoush and Robert Ming

Audrey and Joe Saia

Steve Azar, Keb Mo, Becky Nowell, and Emily Havens

Dan and Jennifer Ennis

Corley and Matthew Mullins

Cynthia Morgan, Neysa Yeager, Megan Walton with Mike and Bib Belenchia

Geoff and Laurel Waldbieser

Jordan Burchfield and Hayley Floyd

Georgia and Wesley Tindall

Jay Ragan and Mary Beth Smith

Jen Mohead and Kathie Boone

Gwen Azar, Keb Mo and Steve Azar

Kate Hood, Karen Brunetti and Kris Prewitt 196 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Keith King, Roane and Libbi Logan with Billy Nowell

Lauren and Michael Boulanger

Kirk and Jamie Lee with Jay Ferguson

DELTA SEEN

Kim Pillow and Lisa Melton

Maggi and Kerri Mosco

Mary Elizabeth Jeffreys, Gaylen Howell, Holly Sanders and Rachel Ward

Mary Grace Summers and Coleman Warrington

Nat McKnight and Gary Gainspoletti

Rivers Gainspoletti, Ann Nowell, Haley Kelly and Maribeth Crews

Stephen Smith and Amy Wheeler

Lyndsi Naron and Caitland Jones

Sean and Susannah Wessel, Keb’ Mo’ with Allyson and D.D. Hardy

Nancy Havens, Allyson Hardy and Sussanah Wessel

Ryan and Mary Parker Redditt

Sandy Tidmore, Ashley Williams, and Channing McPherson

Scott, Cindy, and Jordan Coopwood

Kim Phillips and Kim Buehring

Brittany Hill, Amye Hill, and Brittany Cannon DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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DELTA SEEN

Hayden G. Hall and Erica Eason Hall Nature of Us opening exhibit at Delta Arts Alliance in Cleveland on September 8 Photos by Lyndsi Naron

Candace and Lance Dalton

Sue Duke and Kay Bearry

Dave Alford, Don Conger, and Lauren Powell

Geoff and Leigh Latham

Erica and Hayden Hall

Gregory Cole and Rachel Tate

Camile Walton, Bib Belenchia, and Ron Koehler

Meg Agostinelli and Liz Shaffer

Amber Kinkaid, Bob Wilbanks, and Cade Holder

Kathy Phelps, Erica Hall and Nan Hughes

Nick and Jess McClain

Nancy Chiz and Karen Kamien

Harriet Allen, Kathy Goode, Karen Corley and Bebbie Brunt 198 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

Hayden and Erica Hall with Cindy Coopwood

Opening of the annual “Blues Exhibit” at EE Bass Cultural Center in Greenville on September 8 Photos by Mary Catherine Brooks

Mary and Ricky Nobile, Carolyn Norris, and William Coppage

Marla McGee, Jack Jackson, and Susan Sutherland

DELTA SEEN

E’Lou and Harold Mitchell

Betty Coleman, Cunningham

Bill

Walker,

and

Searcy

Geronimo and Evans Debeza, Ben and Whitney Jones, Sara Jones, with Elizabeth and Joseph Tullos

Celebrating at the Mighty Roots Festival in Stovall: Left to right, Mary McLean Edwards, Sykes Connell, Barrett Mitchell, Travis Coopwood, Robert Carson, Taylor and Bo Armstrong, Kalynn Marley, Tony Clay Marley, Olivia Waring, Mary Luisa Czamanske, Ben Raines, Hays Tidmore, Jackson Spinks, and Lori Townsend

Justin and Shelby Cariker with Art and Sandy Tidmore in Las Vegas.

Keeton Murrell, Leah Walker, Mac Sullivan, and Holt Fortner, at the recent Rice Festival in Merigold. Murrell was crowned the new Delta Rice Queen, and Holt Fortner was chosen as the new Delta Rice Ambassador. Walker and Sullivan will serve as the runners up. DELTA MAGAZINE 2023

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Thefinalword

Holiday Family Traditions

Hobson ‘Doc’ Gary spent his formative years on a family farm near Schlater. After graduating from Mississippi State University, he returned to farm with his father for some years. In 2001, he left the farm to accept a position as a pilot with FedEx—during his career, he flew all over the world. Doc is now retired and lives in Covington, Louisiana, with his wife, Jaime, and their two dogs, Knox and Finn.

grew up on a farm in the Mississippi Delta, near the hamlet of Schlater. I was surrounded by family. My paternal grandparents lived just across the ﬁeld from my parents’ house; my maternal grandmother and my mother’s sister, who was autistic, lived in an addition built onto our house. It was a storybook upbringing, though it would be some years and many miles before I fully appreciated this. To this day, the holiday season always brings back a ﬂood of memories of our family traditions. It was a magical time of year for me. With harvest season behind us, Dad was around more, deer season had opened, and duck season was just around the corner. My family—Mom, Dad, and I— typically spent Thanksgiving at Merigold Hunting Club, located on 12,000 acres inside the Mississippi River levee near Beulah. A typical Thanksgiving day for the

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BY HOBSON ‘DOC’ GARY

Garys started with breakfast at the club’s mess hall. We would then head out into the predawn morning at this storied hunting club—the plan was to be on a deer stand before sunrise. We’d generally head back to our cabin late morning to clean up— spruce up a bit before lunch, and maybe the adults would even fix a cocktail. Spruce up for lunch at a hunting club, fixing noon cocktails, you might be asking yourself—well Thanksgiving lunch at the Merigold Hunting Club was far more than just another country buffet, it was a day of family celebrations. Many members of the club entertained non-hunting family by having them come over to the club’s mess hall for Thanksgiving lunch. You saw people at that noon meal you probably hadn’t seen since the previous Thanksgiving. I remember this tradition very fondly. In my world, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was predominately set aside for hunting the wily Mallard duck. I was the only duck hunter in my family; thus, this period was typically spent with my duck-hunting buddies. This annual ritual as the migrating ducks came south was a much-anticipated time of the year. Soon, Christmas would roll around. This holy holiday was typically spent at my parents’ house on the farm. Sometimes, I could squeeze in a duck hunt before performing my assigned duties to help prepare the house for Christmas Day family festivities—present-opening followed by lunch. In later years, I lived next door to my parents on the farm. However, I was still tasked with “rounding up” the grandmothers, my aunt, and, by then, my son, to gather around the roaring fire my dad would have going in the fireplace. There were always delightful aromas drifting from the kitchen as much cooking occurred.

Once everyone was gathered in the den at my parents’ home, we’d spend a couple of hours exchanging gifts and enjoying spending time together. Dad would be seated in HIS chair, which was in close proximity to the fireplace. Mom played runner by selecting presents from under the tree, directing me to whose hands each specific gift was to be placed in. Once delivered, we would tear into the presents while Mom gathered the ripped-up paper into a big pile. Then, the next part of our family tradition: Dad would inevitably take the piles of paper and start stuffing it in the fireplace. Mom, as scripted, would say, “Hobson, you’re going to set the chimney on fire.” Dad would scoff. Inevitably, the fireplace would make a big whoosh sound as the build-up of creosote caught fire. We’d all run out into the yard to see flames leaping from the top of the chimney, sprinkling embers on the roof, as the creosote burned inside the chimney. My dad would jump into action by getting a ladder while telling me to get the water. Dad would then ascend the ladder, hose in hand, and commence spraying down any embers on the roof. Once the fire in the chimney was extinguished, I’d dutifully return the ladder and water hose to their appointed places, and we’d have a gluttonous Christmas lunch. Mom would clear away the lunch dishes, and I would assist in packing up our 1960s-era International Scout with enough stuff for an African safari. We would then all pile into the small pickup truck cab of that Scout and head to Merigold Hunting Club. Mom, Dad, my son Clark, and I would spend the next two or more weeks in our one-bed-one-bath cabin, which sat on stilts in the middle of the thousands of acres behind the levee. Those were glorious times indeed. DM

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