Scott Reed was in ninth grade when he began making a little extra money as a delivery guy for a West Point flower shop. Little did he know one thing would lead to another, that his future would bloom around floral design. The path would take Reed in 2017 to Washington, D.C., as a volunteer on the team decorating the White House for Christmas. This year, it’s led him to the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion as the featured holiday designer at that National Historic Landmark.
It almost didn’t happen.
This past summer, Reed’s friend Shannon Wilcutt of Columbus happened to read that Mississippi’s First Lady Elee Reeves was asking designers to submit proposals for decorations. The theme Reeves had chosen in this year of pandemic was paying tribute to first responders and frontline workers. Willcutt immediately alerted Reed, owner of Petal Pushers floral and gift shop in downtown West Point. She urged him to submit a plan. But there was a catch: the deadline for submissions was the following day.
Undaunted, Reed worked through the night, studying photos available online of the mansion’s rooms and making sketches.
“They narrowed it down to six designers, and they invited us each to Jackson where we met with the first lady and her chief of staff,” Reed said. “We went over our proposals, walked through the space. About three days later, they called and said they wanted to choose Petal Pushers.”
Reed had to stay mum about being selected until the mansion released the official announcement, which, because of the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, wasn’t made until autumn.
“It was a hard secret to keep for a while,” Reed laughed.
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Prior to the public announcement, of course, Reed was busy planning and making multiple trips to Jackson.
“It was a unique situation because really you buy for Christmas in January for the following year, and we didn’t know about this when we went to Christmas market last year,” he explained. “Fortunately, there is a warehouse near the mansion that has Christmas decor from years and years and years of governors. I went through all of that, to use as much of what the mansion already owned.”
Decorations are not paid for with taxpayer dollars, but by contributions made by friends of the mansion.
The vast assortment of decor available provided plenty for Reed to draw from, then reimagine with his own creative vision. Over five days after Thanksgiving, the designer and an assembled team of Petal Pushers employees and community volunteers worked at the mansion in staggered shifts to transform it for the season.
“We had about 40 volunteers in all, usually with 15 to 18 working at the mansion at any one time,” said Reed.
Downstairs, mansion rooms are adorned predominantly in red, the color often associated with health care and frontline personnel.
Upstairs, decorations in four bedrooms known by their wall colors — the Green Bedroom, Gold Bedroom, Pumpkin Bedroom and Cream Bedroom — show off decor that complements the historical colors and the period.
“The Pumpkin Bedroom is considered the room that the children would have kept in the mansion,” Reed explained. Cranberry strings, gingerbread ornaments and gumdrop trees reflect the youthful theme. Willcutt and her daughters Macy, 18, and Lucy, 15, made a gingerbread village for the mantel. Lisa Klutts of West Point created the paper Christmas banner that hangs beneath it.
“I spent four days there, and it was just so much fun, an amazing experience,” said Shannon Willcutt. “The staff, and the governor and his wife, welcomed us and were very kind.”
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After completing 16 trees as well as mantels, doorways, halls and entrances, the volunteers’ final task was decorating the grand staircase in the mansion’s foyer. Early on, the first lady had asked Reed to include Mississippians in honoring those on the pandemic frontline. The call had gone out asking people to make ornaments that honor them. The response was moving.
“I think we ended up getting close to 75 or 80 ornaments,” said Reed. They paid tribute to doctors, nurses, police and firefighters, to teachers and grocery clerks and essential workers who have toiled throughout the ordeal.
“It was really phenomenal,” the designer said. “This was the very last project we did at the mansion, and to say it was one of the most special is an understatement. There were tears shed from the emotion and from the beauty that unfolded. We absolutely loved this part of our experience.”
The mansion itself is a beautiful venue, Reed said.
“I was just very impressed with how well it’s been maintained and been furnished,” he shared. More so, he feels he’s made fast friends among the mansion staff; many have worked for numerous administrations and witnessed a wealth of Mississippi history.
Having a West Point designer selected to decorate this year brings attention to the Clay County town, said Klutts, who is director of the Growth Alliance.
“I think it shines a spotlight on our downtown and how important small business owners are and what they bring to the community,” she said. “That is highlighted now across the state, that talent is shared with the whole state.”
When Reed’s Petal Pushers celebrates its 19th anniversary in 2021, he’ll look back on this Christmas as a fulfilling opportunity.
“Sharing the experience with my staff, my family and friends, that’s priceless,” he said. “And the friendships I’ve made with the first family and the staff at the mansion, I anticipate that lasting long after the decorations come down.”
Editor’s note: See additional photos at the Lifestyles link at cdispatch.com.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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