Written by Rebecca Wilkinson

The Mal’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade is one of the highlights of the year in Jackson, MS. Malcolm White is the creator of the parade and owner of Hal and Mal’s Restaurant.  Malcolm makes the point that the parade is beyond a traditional celebration of St. Patrick’s day, but more so it is a celebration of the city of Jackson.

I was a waitress at Hal and Mal’s in the early nineties and enjoyed “working” the parade in the restaurant. With prompting from Malcolm, Lesley McHardy and Ruma Haque formed a marching group in 1999 called the Green Ladies and asked me to join.  I jumped at the chance.  Our group has grown over the years to include 50 woman representing teachers, nurses, artists, dentists, real estate agents, bartenders, and stay-at-home moms.  On the third Saturday of every March, we unite as Green Ladies, decked out in glittery costumes and our signature green jackets.

Pre-parade preparation begins with making costumes and creating our signature throws.  Our costumes reflect the designated theme that is announced at the beginning of the year by Malcolm White.  Themes have encompassed everything from the Wizard of Oz and Elvis to recycling.  The themes have also celebrated local celebrities such as Felder Rushing, Cat Cora, Cotton Baronich, and The New Orleans Saints. Along with the expected beads, bouncy balls, and buttons, the green lady signature throw is a coveted collaged domino that reflects the theme of the parade.  Another Green Ladies ritual is collecting toys and monetary donations for the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital prior to the parade.  We can be spotted in full costume at Sal and Mookie’s, McDades, Hal and Mal’s, and other local business collecting donations.  Personally, I think this is the best part of participating in such an awesome group.

Parade day begins with a brunch at the home of Kathy and Michael Potts.  Bloody marys and mimosas grease the wheel of our raucous group of gals.  We then gather in the big room at Hal and Mal’s to put the final touches on our makeup and organize our throws. The big room pre-parade ritual includes visiting with the other marching crews and reunions with out of town marchers who make it back to Jackson to participate. When one o’clock strikes we begin to make our way to the parade route.  Charley Abraham, the long time parade production wizard, begins to wrangle the marching crews into place and we begin the parade.  There is nothing like turning the corner on Capitol Street and seeing the crowds of thousands who show up for the celebration.

The official judges of the parade are the Bucket Heads.  The identity of the Bucket Heads are disguised by, well, buckets. Marching crews usually produce a skit or a dance for the judges.  Green Ladies have been known to spell out parade themed messages attached to their bloomers.  By the time we get to the judges, the bloody marys and mimosas have kicked in and the spelling of the words often get out of order.  It’s to be expected when such a good time is being had by all.

As we march past the museum and onto Court Street, we try to hold on to throws for the last of the masses.  The parade has grown over the years and the crowd just doesn’t seem to stop.  We are some of the first who arrive back at Hal and Mal’s, and it’s not over yet.  The Green Ladies escort the featured New Orleans style brass band onto the stage in the big room for one of the best dance parties in town.  We are all usually sore the next day from dancing, but it is worth it.

The Mal’s  St. Paddy’s Day Parade is the most fun event in our city.  I am so fortunate that it has become an annual celebration and that I am involved.  I can’t wait to see what the theme will be for this up coming year.

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. 

In early 2013, Ken and I had been talking about our Jackson photo book for a few months. Seriousness about our project had been growing and it was time to start if we were going to team up; the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was about to happen.

I told Ken if we were going to do this book, he would have to shoot Mal’s parade. Ken came to Jackson for this event and shot hundreds of photos. He put them on  a disc so I could study his work, and needless to say, this was the beginning of our actual project.

The St. Patrick’s Parade offered so many fine, fun photos that sorting down to just four was difficult. A favorite of mine, a photo of the parade in front of Hal and Mal’s, was last to go as our book filled up.

However, Ken captured a very special parade moment: our Irish girl (plate 10). She immediately became a favorite, and I feel her spirit reflected in this shot captures the goal of our book. She is beautiful. She is having fun. And, she is participating in one of the most celebrated events that happens in our city.

Unfortunately, we don’t know who this special shamrock lady is. She is now #1 on our most wanted list.

For stepping forward, her reward is a free Jackson book (dust jacket of her choice), a #letstalkjackson t-shirt (a green one, no doubt), and a #letstalkjackson coffee mug.

P.S., If Ms. Shamrock would consent, we would like to make her our “Let’s Talk Jackson” poster lady!

Where are you? Who are you? Please step forward and say hi, and help us talk about Jackson!

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. 

Written, Recorded, and performed by Dr. Steve Smith 

The Jackson Rag from Steve Smith on Vimeo.

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. 

Written by Elizabeth Upchurch, owner of Fresh Ink; a stationary and gift store located in Banner Hall in Jackson, Mississippi.

Growing up in a small town in north Mississippi, visiting Jackson was always a special occasion. Granted, this was before you could www your way to having anything you needed (and didn’t) delivered to your doorstep within 2 days. Before all this convenience, visiting a big city like Jackson was a highlight because there were so many things readily accessible. Shopping, restaurants, recreation – there was so much more of it in Jackson than where I was from.  For lack of a better word, everything in Jackson just seemed a little bit “fancier.”

Fancier parties,

fancier dining,

fancier cars,

fancier houses,

fancier neighborhoods,

fancier purses,
fancies shoes…

I suppose I have lived here long enough to now call myself a Jacksonian, but something about the small town girl inside me still feels the need to step up my “fanciness” whenever showcasing our city to locals or visitors. The lovely photographs in the book that is debuting this moth at Lemuria capture perfectly images that made Jackson seem so fancy to me as an outsider.  So when we opened up Banner Hall and Fresh Ink for the book signing party last week, we had to serve one of my favorite fancy party treats – red velvet cake truffles!

Keep in mind as a mother of two school-age children, and business owner, this culinary endeavor is short on time but very long on fanciness.  Enjoy the recipe!

Red Velvet Cake Truffles

1 box of red velvet cake mix, cooked, crumbled, and best dried out and processessed to crumbs.

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 can of vanilla frosting

1 package of white chocolate chips

2 packages of white candy coating (in disposable tray – from Kroger)

I continually over-cook cakes when baking, so this is one of my favorite recipes.  After over-cooking a red-velvet cake, I crumbled the un-usable un-iced layers and threw them in a zip lock in my freezer for several months until they were needed for this recipe. Took the pieces out of the freezer and threw them in my kitchen aid mixer.  Add cream cheese and frosting, and mix until dough-like.

Using a small cookie dough scooper (like a mini-ice cream scoop) make uniform size balls and freeze them on a cookie sheet on wax paper.

Spread out 2 pieces of wax paper when ready to candy-coat.

Melt candy coating in microwave according to package directions.

Your instinct will be to roll the balls in the coating, but that will make a mess.

Instead, drop one of the spheres into the tray, and spoon the melted coating over it.  Then lift the truffle by the sides to the waiting wax paper.

Repeat until complete.

You can make the frozen truffle balls ahead and just roll them in the candy coating the day of.

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com.

Written by Ginger Watkins, owner of Hickory Pit BBQ

When I first opened the Hickory Pit, I was 24 years old and no one in my family had ever been in the restaurant business — they thought I was nuts! Friends and family both would ask me all of the time if I was scared… I wasn’t scared at all! I was excited! But who is scared of anything at 24, right? I was too naive to know how hard the restaurant business can be, but determined enough to do what it took to make it work! 

Now, I admit, I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way… and have had some pretty hard knocks along the way! But buying the Hickory Pit in 1979 was the best decision I have ever made in my life. Not only have my customers become dear friends, but as a single mom I was able to raise my children in a fun, lively atmosphere — where their friends wanted to ‘hang out’. My daughter and her friends would pile up in the booths during the afternoon, when it was slow to talk about the day and they would sometimes go ahead and do their homework. One time my son was showing off to his friends (or possibly the girls) and dove off of a table like Superman; which resulted in a concussion!

My goal for the Hickory Pit was, and still is, to provide the best BBQ and the best customer service along with fun times and lasting memories! For 35 years, my customers have created Hickory Pit’s success. I am so proud to have earned three generations of customers… and two generations of employees! I would say success in the restaurant business comes from a LOT of hard work, being true to yourself as well as your customers! 

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619, visit us online at lemuriabooks.com, or stop by the Hickory Pit for a signed copy! 

Written by Justin Showah 

The Crawdad Hole encapsulates Jackson’s soul. When you walk inside the gate, you are greeted by a funky decor — strings of lights and picnic tables surrounded by haphazard pictures of sports and music personalities under tin roofs. A shaded creek runs by the outdoor dining area, and the food is spicy southern goodness you eat with a bunch of friends or family who have wheeled in their own cooler of beer. Y’all are subject to the weather, sitting around fans and firepits, the house supplying cans of bugspray, tiki torches, and citronella candles as darkness eases in. All races, ages, and walks of life commingle around the live music, the good times, and the feeling that you are hanging out at a clubhouse. There are no tablecloths here — heck, there’s not even silverware — you just come as you are, grab a big bowl of crawfish or shrimp, and start peeling.

I was my Dad’s first employee 18 years ago when he started with one crawfish pot in the back storage room of a rundown wooden building and remain amazed to have watched this place blossom from a weekend hobby into the established hangout it is today.  Like Jackson, the Crawdad Hole is unique in the world, and there will never be another place like it. I can’t think of another place I would rather be.

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619, visit us online at lemuriabooks.com, or pick up a signed copy at the Crawdad Hole! 

Written by Lee Anne Bryan

There is so much that I love about Jackson—it would fill up a book, not one blog post.  So I will limit myself to the circle that I drive every day, from my house to my job and then back home again.

I am not ashamed to admit that Briarwood Liquor Store is high on this list.  Nathan and Lesley are AWESOME.

THANK YOU GOD FOR WHOLE FOODS!  Not going to lie, this was my missing puzzle piece.  Now that I can get fish and kale for lunch that I didn’t have to cook myself—my life is complete.

St. Andrew’s Lower School.  It has provided our kids with the best start they could possibly have.

Murrah High School.  My first “real” job out of college.  And today has some of the most dedicated English teachers I have ever seen working there.  Go Mustangs!

The Eudora Welty House and Garden, which is my office.  Lots of people talk about a “dream job.”  I actually have one.  I get to walk around in Eudora Welty’s house during the day, telling visitors about her books and her love of reading and her life in Jackson.  I get to show school groups and students what it actually means to EDIT writing—by using Eudora’s drafts of One Writer’s Beginnings with her cut-and-pin method of revision.   Occasionally, I get to take a famous author through the house and be a little star-struck.   But I have to say that my favorite thing about my job is community.   There is a “Welty community” in Jackson, which includes the Eudora Welty Foundation, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Millsaps College, the Belhaven neighborhood, Lemuria Bookstore, and a legion of fans, volunteers, supporters, and great readers.   I am surrounded every day by people who share my love of reading and education and who believe that books and discussion MATTER in the world.

I grew up in Dallas.  Or, as one of my high school friends refers to it, “the land of lipstick.”  And if Dallas had any kind of literary community at all, I never saw it.  It was in my first semester at Millsaps College that Dr. Lorne Fienberg sent us as a class to Lemuria bookstore.   And I fell in love.  (Literally.  I met my husband at Lemuria.  But that’s a blog for another day.)  Between Lemuria, being able to go out at night to C.S.’s in running shoes and cutoffs, the great friends I made at Millsaps, and the fabulous book club we formed as Murrah teachers (which still meets), I found that I was HOME.

And now, twenty plus years later, my family and my job make me happier than I ever thought I could be.

Thanks, Jackson.  You’ve given and continue to give me a great life.

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619 or visit us online at lemuriabooks.com. Please join us in celebrating Jackson tonight at 5:00 at the Eudora Welty House and Garden. 

Written by Chase Wynn 

Thank God she didn’t have a Kindle.

She being Eudora Welty, I mean. Have you been to her house? If you’re a reader, you really should. Not just because she was a great writer—and not just in the way you’re imagining. The little white-haired lady who wrote about quaint things like weddings in the Delta and people who lived in post offices? She was so, so much more than that. Read “No Place for You, My Love” sometime, or “The Hitch-Hikers,” or “A Still Moment.” Read “The Burning.”

That’s not why you should visit the house. Come look at her books. She had a lot of them—between five and six thousand in the house when she passed on. They’re everywhere. On shelves, yes, but also stacked on the couches, the tables, the spare beds. I’m told she liked to keep a different book going in every room of the house, so that no matter where she sat down, she could just keep going.

The usual suspects are there—Faulkner, and Proust, and Woolf—but so many others, too. Things I didn’t expect. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. A Confederacy of Dunces. True Grit. And mysteries, mysteries, mysteries. A snobby reader our girl was not.

A man named Tim Parks wrote an article for The New York Review of Books that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, especially when I walk in the Welty house: “The conditions in which we read today are not those of fifty or even thirty years ago… [today] every moment of serious reading has to be fought for.” I don’t mean to sound snarky when I say, “Thank God she didn’t have a Kindle.” This isn’t some sort of anti-tech rant. Heck, you’re reading this on a blog, right? But in a time when serious reading is so hard to do, in a time when you really have to fight for it, it’s nice to walk through her Tudor arch doorway and into a place that feels like a monument not only to a great writer, but to a truly great reader.

It’s the collection of a real reader, too. Yeah, there are some beautiful, leather-bound volumes in there. Mostly, though, there are tattered paperbacks and creased, worn out spines. She read the hell out of those books. She loved them—you can tell.

Come check her out sometime.

The Eudora Welty House will be hosting Ken Murphy for a signing of Jackson: Photographs by Ken Murphy Monday, August 11th @ 5 p.m. The book is also available for purchase at Lemuria (800-366-7619, or online at lemuriabooks.com)

Billy Neville opened “The Rogue” when I was in high school at Murrah. From the first day, Billy’s store was the coolest in Jackson.

Billy’s influence on the youth of Jackson at that time was remarkable. He had the “it” and his customers wanted “it” too. Billy’s style was interactive and engaging. The Rogue quickly grew into the 2nd floor space in the Capri building. Upstairs, he had a dartboard where us guys would go after school and toss darts in the retail store! Billy was ahead of his time, a marketer of fun with style. I even think I won the Rogue in a dart toss tournament! The feeling one had when leaving his groundbreaking store was that everyone was a winner, just for having the Rogue experience.

Billy’s Rogue business boomed and grew and grew and grew. The new Rogue overlooking the new interstate was the result, becoming truly a Jackson, MS institution.
A few years later, retailing became my occupation when I opened the bookstore. First Billy Neveille and then Bernie Weis, of Highland Village’s Maison Weis, became my duel mentors. From these two gentlemen, both clothiers, I learned how to market and think about retailing as an occupation. Their influence on me was powerful. This sounds unusual, since they were so interwoven in the culture of style and presentation of the time and Lemuria was a product of the counter-culture of the time. I believe when you get down to it, retailing is just retailing. It’s about being on the front lines, you are who you are and the customer sees this realness, no matter what.

Gosh, we all know retailing is hard and grueling, a pioneering of sorts. However, this type of work offers the ability for you to be creative, productive, helpful and can be rewarding while living on the front lines of life. Anybody anytime can make a request and your ability to prospect and answer with service is your reward. Customer service in actualization determines success or failure. This is a continuous process of daily helping, sharing, and reaping rewards.

Billy Neville’s influence on a generation or two of would-be be clothiers all over Mississippi is unprecedented, and his style has influenced retailers of all sorts. He led us with his spirit of sharing, and is a living example of Paul Hawkins’ “Growing Your Business” concept, which was the ‘80’s-now evolved into the modern terms of conscious business/capitalism. Billy’s spirit helped me formulate my concept of Lemuria. Thank you Billy for all the years of friendship and leadership, you have been invaluable to generations of Jacksonians, while making us look good in the process.
The Rogue is still open and thriving, thanks to Luke Abney, who carries Billy’s torch with his own spirit of small business in our city.

Written by John

Jackson: photographs by Ken Murphy is available now for purchase. To order a copy, call Lemuria Books at 601.366.7619, visit us online at lemuriabooks.com, or drop by the iconic Rogue to pick up a signed copy! Join us today from 1:00 to 3:00 at The Rogue for a celebration of Jackson.