2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
3
14 Deli Dazzle
Change of plans
24
Weddings interrupted but undeterred
In this issue: • Weddings in decline? Pandemic delayed... numbers tell tale
10
• Wedding venues How have they been affected this year
6
In Step with Susan Gibbes
20
McComb Market makes the cakes
• Community events What’s cancelled & what’s being revamped
28
Hannah Owen and Scotty Bateman are pictured at their wedding Aug. 1 in Natchez after an eventful year.
• Pottery passion Maggie Stauder shares her colorful artwork
On the cover:
32
Cover photo by Kelly Nevels
Staff From the Publisher
he coronavirus messed up just about everything planned for 2020, so it is no surprise that weddings were affected, too. A wedding, in fact, is just about the perfect event not to have during a health crisis. Plenty of people get together, often indoors where the risk of transmission is greater. And a wedding is certain to attract guests of all ages — younger people who
T
may not show outward signs of infection along with older folks who are more at risk. Let’s take it as a sign of resilience that, while some couples decided to postpone their weddings due to the virus, others figured out how to work around it. The world certainly has been shaken during the past year, but joyful cultural landmarks like weddings show that there is a way through all this.
Publisher - Jack Ryan Editor - Matt Williamson Advertising Manager - Vicky Deere Advertising sales-
LeWair Foreman, Stacy Godwin, Steven Sawyer & Margie Williams.
pulse is a publication of J.O. Emmerich & Associates Inc. and is produced in association with the Enterprise-Journal, 112 Oliver Emmerich Dr., McComb, Mississippi. For more copies or advertising information, call 601-6842421, write P.O. Box 2009, McComb, MS 39649 or e-mail advertising@enterprise-journal.com.
Volume 13, Issue 3
4
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
5
6
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
In Step With:
Susan Gibbes
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
7
One busy woman By Mack Spe ncer There’s really no other way to say it: Susan Gibbes is one busy woman. With family activities, business concerns and community volunteering on her plate, she keeps a notebook handy to help her manage everything. “I can’t keep up with everything without my notebook. I take it everywhere,” Gibbes said. As the only child of business-owning parents, she has plenty of entries for her notebook as bookkeeper and comptroller for five family businesses: Holmes Stationers, Moore’s Moving and Storage, Summit Mini Storage, Black Hawk Real Estate and Faraway Rental Properties. All of those businesses are domiciled together on Highway 51 in Summit, just north of the Storefront of Holmes Stationers, city limit from McComb. Holmes Stationers, the cenone of the many ventures that Susan Gibbes oversees. terpiece enterprise at the site, is an almost 80-year-old business that Gibbes’ parents bought 45 years ago and added antiques to the inventory soon after. Bringing all the business offices onto the same site was a nobrainer. “Moving everything under the same roof keeps the family together,” Gibbes said. “My kids are growing up, so it’s great to have everyone here.” Not everything is still under the same roof, however. When her husband Chipper’s father had a heart attack — in a car, with Chipper — that led to a sixth business becoming part of her responsibilities. Gibbes’ in-laws are the fifth generation of the family to own H.D. Gibbes & Sons Store, a restaurant in Learned, a hamlet in Hinds County, that dates back to the 1800s. “I didn’t know anything about restaurants. Now I run a restaurant,” Gibbes said. “We’re there every weekend. It’s like we live in two places.” With both of her children — Henry, 15, and Kirk,12 — active in sports and other activities at Parklane Academy, there’s lots of travel between those two places to ensure that all the business
8
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
responsibilities are covered and that the kids can make all their classes, clubs and practices. “The teachers and coaches at Parklane have been very understanding,” Gibbes said. “The community here has been wonderful to support our restaurant, and the people in Hinds County have been wonderful to support our store here. Gibbes family restaurant “We have such in Learned, MS great help in both locations, good managers and staff, and all the family work well together.” In case she finds herself without enough to do, she also does wedding planning, though she is picky about the weddings she takes on. “I planned my first wedding when I was in college at Millsaps, for a sorority sister,” she said. “There were 14 bridesmaids, and two of them asked me to plan their weddings, too. I don’t have a lot of time these days, so I pick and choose the weddings I take on.”
At one point, she had 14 weddings scheduled in 19 weeks, but she only has one wedding in the offing now, in Santa Barbara, Calif., for two doctors who wanted a destination wedding. In that busier, 14-weddingtime, “I had no children and not much stress,” Gibbes said. “I’ve had to step back. I’ve been to wonderful places like the ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ house in Rome, Ga., and met wonderful people. Now, I like to find a challenge.” Outside all of that, she has given generously of her time to community organizations, serving as the McComb Garden Club president, organizer of fundraisers for the now defunct Women in Need of God’s Shelter in McComb, hosting legs of Shuffle to the Chefs before the event moved to the Business Mill and holding the presidency of Parklane’s Parent-Faculty Committee. She’s also heavily involved in the Summit Partnership, an association facilitated by the Pike County Chamber of Commerce to focus on Summit businesses. “I’ve always been a Summit girl at heart,”
Gibbes said. “We moved our businesses to Summit 20 years ago, and I’ve enjoyed being part of the small town economy.” All of her activities now are filtered through the lens of surviving cancer, an experience that she sees as a blessing rather than a curse. “I had Stage 2 breast cancer,” she said. “I finished treatment two years ago, and I’m healthy, maybe more now than prior to my diagnosis. “I’ve seen the goodness in people. Before, I would make time for my family as I could. When I sat on the couch with sick bags for hours, I realized I was missing a lot. It helped me prioritize where my time needs to go.” It was then that the Gibbes hired a manager for the restaurant in Learned, which alleviated some of the stress and freed up a little time for other concerns. “I knew I couldn’t do everything that I had been,” Gibbes said. “I never quit work, even when I was bald as a cue ball from treatments. When you have a small business, you don’t have the luxury of just going home for a year. You have to cut back on the extracurriculars.” n
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
9
Virus puts damper on wedding plans 10
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Aaron and Jordan McKay celebrate after holding a wedding in July that was postponed from April because of COVID-19.
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
11
By Ernest Herndon When it comes to the effect of the coronavirus on local weddings, numbers tell the tale. According to circuit clerk records in Pike and Amite counties, the number of marriage licenses dropped when coronavirus hit in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019. In Amite County, the circuit clerk’s office registered 59 marriage licenses in March through November 2019, compared with 44 in the same span in 2020. Pike County had 243 marriage licenses from March through November 2019, down to 223 for the same time period in 2020. Walthall County bucked the trend, going from 66 marriage licenses to 69 in the same period, but with drops in April, May and September 2020. The decline really began showing up in April — from eight in 2019 to three in 2020 in Amite County, 10 to three in Walthall and 22 to 16 in Pike. “There was no question from the early going in March when the courthouse closed there were fewer numbers,” said Pike County Circuit Clerk Roger Graves. Restricted access to the courthouse may have been a deterrent. During that period, couples had to make a curbside appointment, fill out a form, then pick up the license in a drop box outside. “Our numbers went down to really nothing because it was difficult for us to work out how to handle the situation,” Graves
12
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
said. “Over the last month the numbers have started picking up again.” He knows couples who postponed their weddings or moved them outdoors with limited guest lists. If the number of marriage licenses dropped, the interest in them didn’t, said Amite County Circuit Clerk Celeste McIntyre. “We got so many calls about marriage licenses,” she said. “I don’t know if people wanted to hurry up and call in case we closed.” One upbeat note amid the list of pandemic woes was an apparent decline in divorces. While it might seem reasonable to assume there would be more divorces in a stress-filled year when people were forced to stay at home or thrown into unemployment, Pike County saw fewer divorces in 2020 — 90 from March through November, compared with 133 divorces in the same time frame in 2019. Likewise, Amite County registered 33 divorces in March-November 2019 and 25 in 2020. Maybe people found more togetherness in a year when so many things went wrong. ‘Hard and upsetting’ Aaron McKay and Jordan Reynolds were among couples who had to change their plans in an attempt to dodge the virus, They got their marriage license in March at the Amite County Courthouse and planned the wedding at Jolimar Summit. “Our original wedding date was April 4, and it was going to be 4-4-20. I love number patterns,” Jordan said. As coronavirus numbers escalated, Jolimar officials kept saying the wedding could proceed — until they learned of Centers for
Disease Control recommendations that would shut down the kitchen. “With so much uncertainty and since they weren’t able to serve food, we decided to cancel. It was so unnerving,” Jordan said. “I had just had a wedding shower a week before and I had to cancel our wedding. “It was so hard and upsetting because nobody had ever heard of this before.” Not since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, anyway. “Everybody was thinking at the beginning this won’t last, but it just kept on coming,” Jordan said. Worse yet, the wedding was paid for. So after a lot of discussion, she and Aaron decided to reschedule. One theory was the virus would die back in hot weather, so they picked July 7. “It just so happened the week of our wedding was another peak in the numbers,” Jordan said. They decided to plow ahead. “I wanted it to be outside, of course, but it was supposed to be outside in April, and this was July,” she said. That meant everybody would be hot and sweaty. But the wedding proceeded anyway. By this time she was resigned. She told people, “If you want to come, come. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask.” It helped that the ceremony was outdoors, at least as far as the virus was concerned, if not people’s comfort level. Fortunately no one came down with the virus afterward. The honeymoon was also affected. Jordan and Aaron had originally planned a week-long Caribbean cruise. “We were so excited about it. He had never been out of the country before, and I was excited about that,” Jordan said. It wasn’t to be. “Cruise lines were the first thing that canceled,” she said.
At least they got their money back — a month later. In the meantime they decided to go to Hot Springs, Ark., for a few days. “It was so much fun I don’t regret going, but it was not a cruise,” Jordan said. “We called it a ‘mini-moon’ because we were only there three days.” They could have gone on a mini-cruise at Lake Ouachita, but Jordan didn’t know about that at the time. Instead they hiked and went sightseeing. “I want to go back,” she said. Despite the setbacks, Mr. and Mrs. McKay were happily wed and now reside in Smithdale. ‘Operating off faith’ People in the wedding business have been looking for a silver lining to the pandemic. “It really has affected us a whole lot. We’re just playing it by ear, trying to keep afloat,” said Tanya Morris of T Bridal Boutique in Edgewood Mall. “I still have people’s prom dresses from prom. Everything is there. My stock room is still full because people had to postpone. People
lost a lot of money. I’m just operating off faith. I just trust God to get us through this. It affected our business real bad, and it’s real bad that we only get small (government) assistance.” For couples who do go ahead with the nuptials, “they do outside weddings, very intimate. It’s advis- Mr. and Mrs. Aaron able to wear McKay masks, have sanitizing stations,” Morris said, suggesting a reduced guest list as well. Photographers can “pre-shoot” a wedding so people can see things on a slide show. “They can still do it on a smaller scale but have memories. Just let’s create our own reality, because we cannot change what’s going on. We just have to make to best of it,” Morris said. “I just have to think positive and say, ‘No,
you can do this.’ We still try to make it fun and exciting.” Weddings are all about hope, and Morris remains hopeful as well. “I just really feel when COVID is over it’s going to be awesome for us,” she said. “We’re just hoping everybody will stay well and we’ll get past the pandemic.” Churches have seen a decline in weddings as well. The Rev. Oliver Smith of Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church, Summit, typically conducts around three weddings a year. Not this year. “I haven’t conducted any wedding over the COVID-19,” he said. “There’s been a decline in the church ceremonies.” He knows of at least two couples who postponed their plans because of the pandemic. If a couple did want to get married in his church, he would permit it, with limitations. “We would continue to follow the CDC guidelines in that respect,” Smith said. n
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
13
Jonathan Wilbourn and Michelle Roberts secretly married in April and did it again in October due to virus concerns.
14
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Wedding plans change because of Covid
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
15
By Mack Spe ncer and Matt Wi lliamson Due to COVID-19, many events were postponed or cancelled in 2020, including weddings. Franklin County native Michelle Roberts, now of Calera, Ala., planned to be married April 25 at New Hope Baptist Church in Meadville, with a reception afterward at Trinity Place. Instead, her family and friends had to wait until Oct. 31 to see her joined in matrimony to Jonathan Wilbourn. That didn’t forestall an April wedding, though. “We got married on April 25, and married in public on Halloween. We kept it under wraps for six months,” Roberts Wilbourn said. “Our families knew we were having a small ceremony in April, and we had a secret photo shoot. In October, we did the whole shebang, and at the reception, we revealed what we had done. “Everybody said that’s what they thought we should do. They were all excited for us.” While the need to change plans could have presented difficulties, she said she had no problems rescheduling site reservations, catering and flowers. “Everything was easy,” she said. “I double-checked that everything would be available in October. I asked for the 31st, and
16
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
they all said that was great. We had no issue with our rescheduling. Of course, we had some people who couldn’t attend then, but we did have a bigger crowd in October than we would have in April. Everybody had a good time.” Other than trading some spring flowers for more fall “We got married on April 25, foliage, most of the and married in public prior arrangements on Halloween. We kept it remained in place. under wraps for six months.” The totems of the day had to be obMichelle Roberts Wilbourn served, of course. “The theme at the reception was Halloween,” Roberts Wilbourn said. There were little pumpkins everywhere, and skeleton brides and grooms as toppers for the cakes that her cousin cooked for the wedding. We had a table full of trick-or-treat candy. We had a couple of skeleton brides and grooms that were given to us be-
fore the wedding that we used for decorations.” She said she has had more problems after the wedding than getting the wedding rescheduled. “I’m going to take the Wilbourn name, but the Social Security offices aren’t open, so I can’t change my Social Security card,” she said. “I’m not changing anything till I can get that, and I’ll trickle over everything else.” n n n Hannah Bateman managed to have multiple life-changing events in 2020, although COVID-19 tried its best to interfere. She graduated college, got married, moved to a new city and started a new job. Bateman was in her senior year at Mississippi State University in the spring when she left for spring break and never returned to campus, finishing her studies online before graduating with a degree in kinesiology. “It was really hard and I was thankful that I didn’t start my senior year with the pandemic,” she said. She and Scotty Bateman married on Aug. 1 at Bandon Hall
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
17
Hannah Owen Bateman overcomes obstacles to wed Scotty Bateman on August 1 in Natchez.
18
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Plantation in Natchez and then they moved 51⁄2 hours away to Troy, Ala., where Scotty got a job at Troy State University as a graduate assistant with the baseball team while he works on his master’s degree in sports management. Hannah and Scotty met through their mothers, Denise Owen and Macie Bateman, who both work for the North Pike School District. “My mom kind of hyped Scotty up and encouraged me to go on a date with him. We met in my first year of college,” she said. Graduating and getting married amid the event-busting pandemic was one challenge Bateman managed to pull off. Actually starting her life post-marriage and post-college was another. A newly minted graduate and bride, Bateman entered the job market herself, knowing that getting a job wouldn’t be easy because of the virus and the layoffs, work stoppages and recession it led to. “A lot of places weren’t hiring because of the virus,” she said. “I was out here searching for a job, trying to figure out what I was going to do.” She ended up getting an interview for a behavior analyst position at a therapy clinic working with children with autism, and the prospective employer told her it’d be a couple of weeks before she learned whether or not she got the job. “The night before, we prayed and I ended up hearing the next day about the job,” she said. She started on Monday, Aug. 24, and considers herself lucky. “I have a lot of friends that graduated with me who are struggling to find a job,” she said. “It has been very stressful.” n 2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
19
20
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Wedding venues hit hard by pandemic 2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
21
By Ca le b McCluskey
The Mallard at Lake Dixie Springs has worked hard to maintain its business while being cautious about COVID-19.
22
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Wedding venues were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with many couples choosing to postpone tying the knot until the virus got under control and government mandates on crowd sizes expired — two things that have yet to happen. In the early days of the pandemic, wedding plan after wedding plan was canceled, and venues were eventually closed by state order in the spring, only to return in the summer — after plans had already been canceled. According to local venue owners, the wedding business slowed to a crawl in 2020. Edward Malta, who owns The Mallard restaurant at Lake Dixie Springs, said he lost a lot of business. “We’ve been drastically affected. Our business is down by about a third over last year,” Malta said. Malta has had to manage running a business and being cautious about the virus. “We take it very seriously here,” he said, adding that he watches the infection rates closely. “I try to guide the people here the right way. We are really trying.” The Mallard has a large courtyard at its entrance. Its focal point is an old church that was built onto the restaurant. That’s where it holds
weddings, banquets and other larger events. “We were able to hang on to some events because of our outdoor space, and we can seat about 40 to 60 socially distanced for dining and social events,” Malta said. “We’ve done events in the church with up to 36 people. That is about as much as I am comfortable doing. Some folks have tried to push us to do more than that, but I have kind of held back.” Malta said despite the hard year, the pandemic brought him and his staff much closer together, noting that they really are more like family to him now. Malta said he tries to be as accommodating for his clients as possible, noting that he is ordained and performed a wedding including just the bride, groom, one employee and himself, which was live-streamed. “One of the biggest motivators, when I was putting this place together, was for it to be a really spectacular venue for a bride and broom to make it their own when the time comes,” he said. “Right now, we can absolutely still accommodate them, but they just have to have the entire venue so we can spread them out.” n n n Debbie McWilliams, the owner of Oak Hill Estates on Highway 24 in McComb, said her venue also had a slow year. “In March, April and May we were basically closed down. We started back in June, and it has been nonstop until now,”
Oak Hill Estates has rebounded well from cancellations due to COVID-19. she said. “We’ve been booked from August to the end of every weekend other than Christmas, so we having a going year despite COVID.” McWilliams and Malta both said they’ve taken to holding more outdoor events following the coronavirus restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings. She said the biggest change in the weddings at her venue is the size of the crowd. Despite the dreary 2020 wedding season, Malta said he believes 2021 will pick back up — barring the possibility of further lockdowns. "COVID hit us right at our second anniversary in February, and so I think the fact that we are doing as well as we are is very commendable, and I feel very confident about the future," he said. McWilliams said her biggest fear from
the coming year is that more restrictions that could impact the wedding industry. “I don’t know about the other venues, but I am not a rich person. I have a banknote, and if we don’t have events, that means I can’t pay my note, and that is a little scary, being this is my lifelong dream,” she said. “To know that I could lose it because of a pandemic is very scary.” McWilliams said she hopes business will continue to pick up once the pandemic is under control but noticed fewer people have booked the venue in the traditionally busy months. “Next year, I am a little worried because this time last year, we already had all of our busy months booked,” she said. “I think everybody is reserved because they are not sure about what is going to happen in 2021.” n
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
23
24
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Deli bakes the cakes! McComb Market knows how to whip them up By Matt Wi lliamson Gallon of milk, loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a five-tiered wedding cake and a catered meal for 30 guests. That could conceivably be someone’s grocery list if they’re shopping at McComb Market — and in the market for such things. While the typical grocery store deli is more commonly known for slicing cold cuts and serving up plate lunches, McComb Market’s deli also is a full-service bakery, with cake decorators who can run with the best in the business. “Cakes are really good for us, on weekends specifically, birthday cakes,” store manager Gene Moak said. Deli manager Becky Hall works alongside two other cake decorators, and they all have 10 to 25 years experience decorating cakes. “When I find a good cake decorator, if one comes across us, I’m going to hire them as soon as possible,” assistant manager John Hillyard said. “And that’s why we have so many experienced cake decorators on staff. When we find a good decorator, we try our best to hire them. We recruit them.” The cake business is a busy one for the store. In addition to a constant flow of special orders for birthdays, parties and weddings, the deli has about 30 cakes made and on display for sale at any given time. “Sometimes takes all three of us” decorating cakes, Hall said. “On a Saturday, they could have 50 cake orders.” Moak said. Moak said customers can go online and order cakes at cakes.com. “You can upload your own pictures of cakes,” he said. “People will email them and tell them what they want.” Hillyard said options for customers are nearly limitless. “Someone can go out to a soccer game and take a picture of little Johnny kicking a ball and the next day we can have it on a cake,” he said. 2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
25
The store generally prefers two weeks notice for wedding cakes, and the price includes delivery, which Hall said is the most stressful part of the job. “This cake has to be put together on delivery. It has to be delivered, something that big,” Hillyard said, showing photos of an elaborate five-tiered wedding cake the store recently made. A lot of hours go into some cakes, depending on how elaborate the decorations get. The cost of the wedding cake depends on the size and decorations, with some cakes going for as much as $600 to $700, which Hillyard said is still a bargain compared to some specialty bakeries. The smallest wedding cake, which includes a 10-inch bottom tier, an eight-inch middle tier and a five-inch top tier, sells for $150. “We have an original New Orleans wedding cake-flavor cake,” Hillyard said. “It’s
26
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
Becky Hall decorates a two-tiered cake at McComb Market. that almond flavor you find in Cajun country.” In addition to white almond, other cake varieties include yellow, chocolate, marble, Rainbow Blast, red velvet, carrot, strawberry and Italian cream cheese. The deli can make special order cupcakes and petit fours as well. “We can customize a cake for anybody,” Hillyard said. And deli staff also note not to forget the groom’s cake, since most couples typically do until late. They’re generally not as fancy and can be decorated in short order, with hunting, fishing and sports teams among the
most popular decorations. “Everything from a beer can to a fishing pole,” Hillyard said. “We’re licensed to do all of the sports logos and anything else.” Cakes aren’t the only food people eat at weddings, and Hillyard noted that the Market also runs a decent catering business. “People dont’ think about McComb Market in this way, but we have two chefs who are on staff,” he said. “We can pretty much put together whatever menu you want.” Some of the more popular entrees for catered events include crawfish and grits and crawfish lasagna, Hillyard said. “There are a lot of things we do that have
Above, Hall puts florettes on a cake at McComb Market. At right, she uses an airbrush to decorate another cake.
crawfish or shrimp in it,” he said. “Today on the line we’ve got seafood eggplant casserole with a catfish filet.” The Market also offers a variety of bars for events, including wing bars, taco bars, potato bars and sandwich bars that Hillyard said are very reasonable in terms of cost per person. “When you think about catering sometimes and you call a caterer and you get their price, quite often it’s $25 a plate and the menus are simple for the most part,” he said. “Here, a taco bar will run you about $7 per person. A wing bar will run you about $6 per person.” Hall said she appreciates having the store’s commercial kitchen at her disposal. “It’s wonderful because you have everything you need right here,” she said. “We’ve got a few things we’re looking to add to our kitchen staff. It’s going to make our catering business a whole lot better,” Hillyard said. And while a wedding planner may not have usually have the local grocery store on speed dial, Hillyard said anyone planning their nuptials while looking for high quality at a reasonable cost would do well to pay McComb Market a visit. “You can do everything you need for a wedding here, from the catering to the flowers to the cake, for a fraction of the price you’re going to pay at specialty shops,” he said. n 2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
27
Events like the Azalea Festival will have a drive-by event to recognize the court.
Community events Canceled • Rescheduled • Postponed • Revamped By Connor Raborn COVID-19 will continue disrupting and altering events into 2021, as evidenced by some beginning-of-the-year McComb traditions having to change. While the pandemic’s arrival in the U.S. last spring harshly cut back the Azalea Festival’s schedule, this time the McComb Garden Club was ready to prune the month-long March event in a way that will maintain its integrity. The Garden Club plans to cancel the events that require close contact indoors and to again move its senior coronation to a drive-by ceremony at Southwest Mississippi Community College.
28
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
However, a new aspect of the festival is ready to bloom. McComb Garden Club wants to use a new beautification contest to recognize local small businesses, said club president Jordan Porter. “When you drive down Delaware or some of the other major roads that have gardens or flower pots, that makes everybody in the community feel good about the businesses here,” Porter said. “It means a lot when businesses put a lot into that curb appeal. We will highlight businesses we appreciate for doing that. We’re going to award them and bring attention to them.” At the end of the month, an overall curb appeal winner
Rachel Frank, the McComb Garden Club’s 2019 Azalea Court queen, waves during a drive-thru presentation of the 2020 court at Southwest Mississippi Community College. will be chosen. Mondays in March, the festival’s weekly series of educational presentations, will again be left off this year’s lineup due to its crowded nature. For the coronation, the students will be placed around SMCC’s campus and guests will drive around to view them safely from their vehicles, Porter said. It’s the same method the Garden Club used last year. The coronation is usually held around the pool in Edgewood Park, but the usual attendance of several hundred people and the involvement of 50 to 75 seniors made it too impractical under the virus precautions. So it was back to Southwest, an alternative Porter thinks will be received as well as it was the first time around. “We were able to see that it could be done,” Porter said. “It still turned out to be such a beautiful evening where we were still able to honor those seniors who look forward to
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
29
Shuffle to the Chefs has been cancelled with the committee working on some alternative events to benefit St. Andrew’s Mission.
30
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
the event and the families who’ve been part of our traditions in our communities for so many years.” “Southwest is such a gem in our community that we don’t get to utilize very often,” she added. Less easy to accommodate the demands of a pandemic is Shuffle to the Chefs, which has been canceled for 2021. That culinary event, which raises money for St. Andrew’s Mission was set for Jan. 28 with a Mardi Gras theme this year. Event chair Nikki Belote said the virus precautions as of mid-December limiting indoor crowds to 10 people and outdoor crowds to 50 would make it impossible to hold the event. “We were trying to work out some alternatives. We were hoping to have more of an outdoor area and have a separate bar and stuff set up outside,” Belote said. “It’s just not going to work out.” Even if times later in the year see precautions ease up, the schedule of local events is generally too packed to place Shuffle to the Chefs in another month. So Belote decided the best course of action was taking another year to work on the next Shuffle. “We’re planning to make it the best one yet,” she said. “We have lots of creative and fun ideas, and hopefully we’ll be able to take this extra time to really perfect all the new ideas we have and come back in 2022 with a bang.” But Shuffle to the Chefs fans may not have to wait that long to get a taste of the event. Belote said she and the board are workshopping ideas to hold fundraisers for St. Andrew’s safely throughout the year. St. Andrew’s Mission’s clinic and soup kitchen are among the services that Shuffle to the Chefs helps fund. Belote encourages individuals and businesses who usually support Shuffle financially to still do so through donations to St. Andrew’s. “We are of course still accepting donations from anyone who earmarks that money and wants that write-off. We will still be doing special recognition for them on our Facebook page,” she said. Those who would like to give can contact Belote at nikki_belote@yahoo.com. n
2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
31
Maggie Stauder has found pottery to be a unique art.
By Donya Fegan The thing that Maggie Stauder, the creator behind Topisaw Farm Pottery, loves the most about her work is that each piece is one of a kind. Raised by a creative mother, who in turn was raised by a creative father, Stauder has been drawn to art since she was a child. “I loved to mix colors, and my favorite Christmas gifts were watercolor sets and boxes of 48 or 64 Crayolas.” In college, Stauder majored in arts education, hoping to use her degree to support herself financially while also learning about different art techniques. After college, she worked in insurance, but always had a creative outlet, dyeing wool with wildflowers or refinishing furniture in her spare time. In her 30s, Stauder began taking painting classes, first with Daniel Barrilleaux and then with Roger Lawrence. She also attended Mississippi Art Colony sessions for several years. Eventually, Stauder “put painting on the shelf ” in order to spend more time with her family. Then, at 60 years old, she began experimenting with pottery. “A new door opened for me and it just felt right,” Stauder said. Though she was able to take some hand-building pottery classes at First Baptist Church in McComb, Stauder largely taught herself. “I took a leap of faith,” Stauder says. 2021 Bridal Issue
pulse
33
She ordered a pottery wheel and a kiln, and watched videos and read manufacturer instructions online. She also joined a Facebook group of potters, who share tips and advice with one another online. “I feel best when I can justify what I make,” Stauder said. She is drawn to pottery because it is both functional and beautiful. In her at-home studio, she makes wind chimes, bowls, plates, and Nativity sets. She has also recently started making jewelry out of clay. She sells all of her items at her vendor booth at Rustic Charm Vendor Gallery in Summit, at Summit and Wesson fall festivals, and also invites inquiries on her business Facebook page, Topisaw Farm Pottery +. She also makes Christmas Angels for Gulf South Art Gallery. Stauder says that she draws most of her inspiration from nature. “I love the outdoors and landscapes — they’re just natural for me,” she said. Stauder also defers to nature in her pottery, preferring to make each piece unique and organic-looking. She often translates nature into her art through colors, adding tones that she thinks will change the tone of a piece. “I’ve always been fascinated with colors, even as a kid, but ironically my signature glaze is a matte white with accents of patina copper, which to me is a timeless classic,” she said. Stauder has a complex relationship with glazing her pottery, a process of coloring the piece after it is sculpted that is both difficult and unpredictable. “So many things affect the glaze color: the temperature, where it is in the kiln, or how many coats it has and in what order the coats are layered,” she said. This complexity makes it difficult to replicate the same piece. Stauder enjoys this process, however, and says, “opening the kiln is like Christmas morning almost every time, especially when there are new glaze combinations in there: you never know what surprise you may have in store.” The fickle nature of glaze coloring, along with the natural feel of pottery, inspires Stauder. “I recently made a series of dishes that I glazed with multiple glazes in a manner that suggests various landscapes and seems more like a painting,” she said. These dishes, mainly plates, are glazed with images that appear to some as mountain ranges and to others as seascapes.
34
pulse
2021 Bridal Issue
“This was a breakthrough for me because it felt like it bridged the gap between painting and pottery,” Stauder said. As 2020 comes to a close, and the holiday season, Stauder’s busiest time of year, slows down, she is lining up her creative goals for next year. Her husband, Chris Stauder, has become her “apprentice” after retiring from raising beef cattle, and makes primitive furniture, bird houses, and wind chimes with her. Stauder is hoping to develop their creative teamwork further next year. “I would also like to start painting again, but pottery is my big thing right now,” she said. In her pottery, Stauder hopes to learn more about glaze chemistry, and to refine her ability to experiment with colors in her pottery. As she continues to learn, however, Stauder will ensure that one thing stays the same: Each piece will speak to her, and every one will be unique. n