Life instructor Charles Smith grabs a plastic tupperware container of black-eyed peas, dumping them into a metal mixing bowl. Preparing ingredients in front of a small crowd inside the Utica Public Library in late July, Smith next adds lima beans and then some bright yellow corn. He then throws some kidney beans into the bowl, along with pinto beans and peas. Each ingredient he uses sits in a metal can, proving that the bean salad doesn’t have to solely rely on fresh produce to be made.
“When you use beans out of the can, you want to try and get low sodium, but if you can’t, you want to rinse them off. And if you want to use dry beans, you soak them overnight and you make sure you boil them really, really, really good. Beans do not need to be undercooked going into your system,” Smith explains as he adds red bell pepper and purple onion to the mix.
He sprinkles salt and pepper to the veggies in his bowl, adding a touch of seasoning to the dish before he gives it the final touch. He grabs a glass measuring cup, pouring a full cup of low-sodium Italian dressing before picking up a mixing spoon to fold the orange dressing into the vegetables until evenly coated.
As the life instructor mixes, he sings:
“Let me mention. Hypertension. I know they call you high blood, but the door gone kick you in the butt. … I’m sick of you messing with my blood, coming around like a kin … pretending to be of kin. Your crap is coming to an end … ’cause here’s the deal for real. I’m eating my plant-based meal.”
The audience seated inside the library laughs, entertained by Smith’s infectious personality and soulful voice. In no time, the dish is ready and plated on small white paper plates. The plate is bursting with a rainbow of colors, vegetables twinkling under the bright library lights with dressing and other herbs.
“Does that look good? Look at all of that. … Y’all take a picture of that. That’s too pretty to it,” Smith brags with a smile.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-46332″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith_cred-Malcolm-Morrow-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Charles Smith used to say that his mom’s kidneys failed her up until a few years ago, when he realized that it was his mother who failed her kidneys. People must always be mindful of the food they put into their bodies, he said.
“People always follow what their grandmama did, and that’s why you always have high blood pressure. That’s why you always have diabetes and high cholesterol because it’s not the DNA, it’s the D-I-E-T that we are following,” Smith said. “They may not have had a recipe written down, but I guarantee you, what they did have, we picked up on it.”
The 68-year-old life instructor has been a vegan for at least 20 years, changing his eating lifestyle for his overall health after he lost various family members at early ages. His mother died at 58 with kidney issues. Two of his sisters passed on from cancer, and his father lived to be 44 years old.
“I tell people in the beginning, when I was small, I was in the kitchen cooking with my mom,” he said. “When she was sick and dying, I was cooking for my mom. Now, I’m cooking because of my mom.”
“I don’t want other people to have to die too quickly or live too sickly. And I get chill bumps every time I talk about that because I’m a mama’s boy. To watch her die and not be around her grandchildren and things like that, it is unbelievable.”
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-46331″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Charles-Smith-2_cred-Malcolm-Morrow-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
He now passes that knowledge forward as a life instructor, this time doing so at the Homegrown Utica Festival on Saturday, July 27. The Utica native is teaching a healthy eating workshop inside the town’s library, preparing meals that incorporate the essential food groups.
“The power of food can affect your mood. The power of the plate can help a body feel great,” Smith said. “We are what we eat. So what I want to share with you today is the four food groups that you need to get into your system every day.”
Charles Smith also taught how to make what he called his infamous green juice, using ingredients such as kale, pineapples, water and grapes. “I’m going to take some kale. Kale is not as stingy with its iron as spinach is. I’m going to use some green grapes, and then I’m going to use pineapple. You can get your pineapples out of a can as long as it says 100% pineapple juice,” he explained.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-46345″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bean-Salad_cred-Malcolm-Morrow-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
He adds bananas and water as well with an added suggestion to add agave, maple syrup or honey over white sugar if the juice is missing some sweetness. Then, he blends it, keeping all the fiber in the drink, which is to the body what Drano is to a stopped-up sink, he described.
“You want to get greens into your system every meal. That’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. You see, your blood system is like the transit system,” he explained while pouring the finished green juice into miniature cups for the group’s consumption. “It’s like your car, the blood carries stuff to all the different organs.”
But it can be hard to stay healthy in certain communities if you don’t have proper food access, and Mississippi is one of the most food-insecure states, ranking 48th in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2020-2022 Household Food Security findings. Utica has struggled with food access over the past decade, with the last grocery chain closing in 2014.
“I used to just try to use fresh vegetables, but no. You can get hold of cans easier, and they can stay around longer,” Smith said. “That’s why I wanted to do this demonstration with cans because I’m in Utica, and they don’t have a lot of grocery stores around here.”
‘Empower Black People’
In 1870, William Henry Holtzclaw was born in Randolph County in Alabama to former slaves. He grew up illiterate, but he eventually attended Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1890 and was a student and follower of Booker T. Washington. After graduating from Tuskegee, he was ready to take the Tuskegee model across other parts of the South.
He married fellow Tuskegee student Mary Ella Peterson and briefly taught at Snow Hill Institute in Alabama before moving to Mississippi. The couple had six children with one dying as an infant. In 1902, he worked to organize a small public school, but he then began raising money and organizing construction workers to build the private school that became Utica Normal and Industrial School.
Holtzclaw wanted students to work as part of their tuition. The school’s offerings included curriculums on teaching, agriculture, printing, carpentry, construction, steam and electrical engineering, and dressmaking. As part of his work at the school, he helped organize the Negro Farmers Conference, which had its inaugural iteration in 1905. The annual conference was an effort to improve the living conditions of the farm people of Utica and the state of Mississippi, bringing together local farmers and leaders of the farming industry.
“It was really an empowering conference, and since the Utica Institute was more vocational than academic at the time, it really helped the folks who were contributing to the institute to see what was going on and how they could improve themselves,” Utica Institute Museum Co-Director Jean Greene told the Mississippi Free Press.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-46346″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/William-Henry-Holdzclaw_cred-Malcolm-Morrow-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
He would also organize the Black Belt Improvement Society to inspire farmers and families in the area to embrace their own power and work toward self-sufficiency. The society espoused 10 decrees that, if followed, Holtzclaw believed would lead Black farmers from a desire to better their condition to actually making that wish a reality.
“There were people who were aspiring and giving testimonials at the conference about how they were moving up, and other folks were questioning if it was possible: ‘Yeah, you can make it but can anybody?’” Greene explained.
Eventually, opportunities to leave the South as work in factories presented itself, so many Black people migrated north or left agriculture behind for factory jobs with higher pay. In turn, the farmers conference eventually ceased to exist.
“That left only a handful of people to operate the farms,” Greene said. “As farmland was then, taxes weren’t paid on it like it should have been. The land started being taken by white folks, and so now you’ve got many Black farmers that don’t own their own land.”
“We were thinking our fortunes would be in manufacturing,” she added. “After we give our fortunes to manufacturing, then NAFTA comes through, and all of those factory jobs are then taken out of the South and sent out of the country. And there are people who are now out of work, which is what happened to Utica and in a lot of small towns.”
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt=”An exhibit in the Utica Institute Museum labeled Black Belt Improvement Society with a tractor wheel in the display” class=”wp-image-46657″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Black-Belt-Improvement-Society_cred-Aliyah-Veal-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
The local leader published two newspapers, Utica News and Southern Notes. In 1915, Holtzclaw published his autobiography, “The Black Man’s Burden,” which contained stories of people overcoming impoverished upbringings through education and hard work..
“He was the first Black man to publish a book (in Mississippi). Booker T. Washington wrote the introduction to that,” Greene said. “When he wrote in that introduction, he wrote that Holtzclaw and the Utica Institute was the best example of a little Tuskegee.”
Holtzclaw continued to run the school until his death at the age of 76 in 1943. Mary Ella, his wife, and one of his sons continued to run the school in his absence for three years before giving the school to Hinds County. Eleven years after his death, Utica Normal and Industrial School became Utica Institute Junior College and later, the Utica campus of Hinds Community College.
Greene said she believed the people of Utica had forgotten how to dream until Sipp Culture founders and married couple Carlton and Brandi Turner came back and started to implement initiatives and programs that involve the community. She thinks the community is poised to expand on that dream with events like the Homegrown Utica Festival.
“At first, like a lot of folks here, I couldn’t see it happening. We’ve been disappointed a lot, but the closer we got to it and as the plans got nearer, it became real. And if we get 10 people, 20 people or 1,000 people, it’s still a success,” Greene said.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt=”An exhibit in the Utica Institute Museum showing a painting of a man, a model of a two story house, and a mannequin in a dress” class=”wp-image-46656″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/William-Holtzclaw-portrait_cred-Aliyah-Veal-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Dr. Karla Turner-Bailey, Carlton Turner’s sister, re-started the farmers conference almost three years ago, with the hopes of showing people how profitable the farming industry can be and the careers one can pursue in the field.
“She is trying to get folks to understand that this is self empowerment, to get rid of those negative connotations,” the institute co-director said. “This is about you being able to make money. It’s hard for people to see that because so much is ingrained in us, that ‘I ain’t gonna be picking no cotton. I ain’t gonna be out in the field shucking no corn.’”
‘A Groundseeding’
A row of planter boxes sits in front of an old building, filled with native wildflower seeds that will grow year after year as long as they are cared for. By January 2025, the seeds will have grown and developed in time for the grand opening of the Main Street Cultural Center in Utica, Miss.
“This is going to be a big and beautiful new space in the town of Utica at an anchoring point,” Sipp Culture co-founder and co-director Brandi Turner tells the community gathered in front of the building. “For those of you that are just coming, I want you to know that seeds have been planted all along this process. We started in 2017, and here we are today at this space,”
Jean Greene is not a native of Utica, but she’s been calling it home for more than 20 years. Sipp Culture has given the community the capacity to dream beyond what they had been experiencing every day, she said. When Sipp Culture introduced its programming and vision to the community, she was excited to jump on board so that she could do something positive for the community that had adopted her.
“I was able to work with Greg and Carlton in envisioning what we wanted to see this community be,” Greene said on July 27. “This community kitchen space that we are dedicating today is the first part of a growing process that we hope to help revitalize the entire town.”
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Sipp Culture is partnering with Arts for Everybody, a year-long campaign supporting artists and leaders across 18 cities as they create art projects aspiring to build healthier communities. Those in this Hinds County community opted to create the Homegrown Utica Festival, which premiered alongside the other cities’ projects on Saturday, July 27, 2024.
Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director David Lewis said the commission has awarded the organization $500,000 through the Building Fund for the Arts program, which funds revitalization projects.
“The team with Sipp Culture put together a fantastic application that made it a unanimous support for us, so we’re thrilled to be investing in this and to see how it’s gonna transform this entire community,” Lewis said.
Sipp Culture co-founder Carlton Turner made sure to give plenty of kudos to Mike Brody, saying that Sipp Culture wouldn’t be where it is today without him. As a development partner, Brody has given the organization free advice on what certain terms mean, how to approach a particular idea and what they should be looking for in a building.
“I can’t stress enough the amount of work, effort, passion, headaches and heartaches and heartbreaks that are a part of making something like this actually happen,” Brody said. “It is a testament to Brandi and Carlton and their team for persevering through all of this and also raising all of that money without any debt, which is unheard of.”
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Bay St. Louis company Unabridged Architecture worked with Sipp Culture on designing the center. Co-owner Allison Anderson noted that they went through and studied the building, measured the building and took in all the details to make sure they can preserve as much of its history as they can.
“We think it’s really important for this community to be able to recognize this structure, but we’re also adding some new and exciting elements that’ll bring it into the next 100 years of its life,” Anderson said.
‘Homegrown’
The Paige Grove Youth Choir and Utica Community College kicked off the day’s performances, followed by an energetic display of music from the Utica Drumline. Chris K & The Junkpot Band and Maurice Samuel ft. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. kept the tunes going through the afternoon hour before a spoken-word performance by Da Voice.
After Mr. Fluid performed a hip-hop set, children showed off their artworks for Veronica’s Mexican art presentation. The Southern Komfort Brass Band then closed out the day’s festivities, with the festival concluding with a film screening in the library and line dancing at the clinic near the performance stage.
Food trucks parked up and down Main Street the day of the festival, offering a variety of options while people milled through the street browsing local vendors selling jewelry, crafts, food and other products.
Husband and wife entrepreneurs Mike and Beth Cox own a bee farm in Canton with more than 40 hives. While Mike attended a family reunion at his Christian church in Utica the day of the festival, Beth marketed their honey business, Cox & Sons Pure Honey, with mason jars and teddy-bear bottles in various sizes filled with honey lining their vendor stand. Beth learned about the festival from a friend, who sent her an email flier with additional details.
“My husband used to do it about 10 or 12 years ago with his cousin. … Five years ago, they started it back up. We started with two hives, and now we have 45,” Cox told the Mississippi Free Press.
Beth Cox admitted she didn’t know much about bees and honey until she joined the business alongside her husband. Now, she can list a ton of facts about both subjects.
“The life cycle of a female worker bee, which are the ones that go out and gather the nectar, is only about six weeks,” she explained. “They fly so much they wear their wings out. If you have bees dying in six weeks, but you’ve got a queen that’s laying 2,000 to 2,500 eggs a day, you’re replenishing the population of those who die.”
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Drone bees are males who protect the queen and the eggs she lays. Drone bees don’t sting like worker bees as they never leave the hive. The queen is the biggest bee, only leaving the hive if she has no more room to lay eggs. She will swarm and leave, with the other bees following her. It takes about 45 days for bees to produce honey.
“There’s something in honey called propolis, and it has antibacterial properties,” Cox described. “It’s good for allergies, arthritis and sore throats. If you get a cut on your skin, you can take honey and rub it on the cut; it has healing properties. It’s actually better for you (nutritionally) than table sugar. You have a better glycemic index.”
Near the performance stage, parents could take their children to the bouncy house or arts-and-crafts table for painting Fahrenheit Creative Group provided. The festival also had a smoothie station and bingo games inside the cooling station. The Utica Public Library hosted various workshops including ones on healthy eating and other health-oriented information.
Outside the library, the Utica Institute had its own table stationed, dedicated to educating attendees on the town’s history and William Henry Holtzclaw. The Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Clinic held dental and physical screenings, as well as cartography of the heart screenings.
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Kimberly Streeter started Krazy Konkoktionz LLC in October 2021, needing a secondary form of income to help take care of her family. Three years later, the mother of two daughters is running the business full-time, creating dessert candles, incense, candle cups, squeezable wax belts and affirmation jars to help people cope with their mental health.
“I used to work in mental health, and I do have anxiety, so it’s a calming mechanism for me,” Streeter told the Mississippi Free Press. “Aromatherapy … helps you relax.”
Streeter’s vendor table is a cache of colors, starting with the bright squeezable wax belts that resemble pouches of juice and the candle cups that resemble cake jars with all the fixings. The dessert candles look similar to what each is named after, stationed in little aluminum cake pans with whipped designs at the top. This product is one of Streeter’s most challenging to create.
“It does take a lot of work. You have to get the wax in the whipped consistency, so it takes time,” the Holmes County native said.
The artisan discovered the Homegrown Utica Festival online, but Hope Credit Union helped equip her for the festival. She applied for the credit union’s Power of Hope Loan, which allowed her to purchase fragrance oils, glass containers and a shed that she turned into her candle shop. Streeter, who filmed a commercial about her business for Women’s History Month in March, expressed her gratitude to Hope for giving her an opportunity to expand her business and showcase her product.
Outside of selling content through her website, pop-up shops and events like the Homegrown Festival allow her avenues to sell her wares and to promote her brand, though she has her eyes set for bigger things. She aspires to see her products “on the shelf” in places like Walmart and Target, and she would like to franchise someday.
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Clarisse Jones learned the tradition of jarring and pickling from her mother, who in turn learned from her mother. Now, the Utica native has funneled that pastime into a niche business alongside her other business, Clara’s Catering.
She jars and sells pickles, jellies, jams, vegetables and salsa. Her most popular items are strawberry jam and bread and butter pickles, though plum jam seemed to be a popular flavor, too, as it sold out before the festival’s end. Jones learned to cook from her mother and now provides home-cooked meals for weddings, parties and other events as a caterer.
“All of them are homegrown, so everything is healthy and with no preservatives,” the caterer said.
Pickles stand out the most amongst her products on her table, displayed as spears, pickle chips with sweet, sour and kosher options, as well as classic Kool-Aid pickles. She describes the pickles as a mix between sweet and sour, yet savory.
“We were brought up on it, so it was just a pastime,” she said of pickles.
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Jones said she can imagine the festival becoming much bigger as the years go, especially if the community continues to participate. She knows some people who did not participate in the festival due to past disappointment, but she hopes that changes.
“I think it’s a good thing. It gives us a chance to showcase the greats. Utica is a small town, and our culture is just getting away from us. So this is a good way of showing people what’s still going on in the small town,” she said.
‘Plant One Seed’
Jackson, Miss., artist Gavin Bird’s works can be found all around the capital city. He painted “A Journey Through Jackson,” the largest mural in the state, measuring 500 feet long and 10 feet tall, on The Museum Trail. It tells the history of Jackson as well as that of the state as a whole. He has another mural off Meadowbrook Road and two murals in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Bird has now added another mural to his collection in Utica, where he painted a piece centered on food access on the side of the Evelyn Taylor Majure Library building. The mural came from the community’s ideas and input, and it highlights historical and cultural facets of Utica.
The mural features fruits and vegetables, William Henry Holtzclaw, the Hinds Community College Utica Campus bulldog mascot, the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, the state flower, Utica’s water tower, birds, and young people. On the far left side, residents were invited to add their handprints to the mural in purple paint.
“daniel johnson reached out to me (about the mural). There was an open call for artists, so it was something I answered directly through an online portal he sent me. I sent over a proposal and application,” Bird told the Mississippi Free Press.
“For the original idea and the proposal that I submitted, I thought it was really important to have some form of community engagement. Having the community give ideas for the history and the culture of Utica was so important because they know it the best,” the artist added.
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Bird said the mural took two weeks to finish with weather and other personal matters setting him back a day or so. He hopes the mural can help facilitate getting a grocery store built in Utica so that everyone in Utica has more access to food.
“Moving to Jackson, I’m so thankful the area I live in has a grocery store up the street from me, but it really did give me the understanding of what it’s like to not have food access and just how taken for granted it can be wherever you do have food access,” Bird said.
Utica native Jordan German knows the town to be a community-focused environment, where peers looked out for one another. It was also a place often overlooked, though the city offered plenty talent-wise when it came to sports, musical artists and philanthropy. The town’s biggest struggle, however, has always been that it resides in a food desert, the 29-year-old lamented.
“So at one point in time, we didn’t have Dollar General. You would have to travel 30 to 35 minutes to get to this town, just so that you can get groceries and vegetables,” German told the Mississippi Free Press.
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Luckily, Sipp Culture, farmers and people building sustainable gardens have helped alleviate some of the drawbacks of not having access to brick-and-mortar grocery store. Regardless, German maintains how proud she is of her community and city. Although she doesn’t reside there anymore, she always comes back to help in any way she can, even with the festival.
“I came to the public planning meeting that they had and gave my input. I’m an educator, so I wanted to see things for the kids. They already had that, but it was the way it was posted on social media and they made those corrections,” she said. “So they listen to the public about what they want to see, what they want to do and what needs to be done.”
Seeing the festival come to life, German is inspired to see what else can be done to help Utica flourish. The Homegrown Utica Festival showed her that the town has no limits to its potential, and it gives her children something else about their home that they can take pride in as they come to better know their community. It’s for them too, she said.
“You think about a seed and how things actually grow. You could plant one seed, it grows, and the wind is going to take it, and it’s going to move somewhere else and grow more,” the educator said. “We’re part of that seed. We’re growing up, but then also populate to carry on.”
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