By TERRI GLAZER • Photography ANNA CATHERINE BOOTH
Celebrated Southern design duo of Parker Kennedy Living team up with Jenny Smith of Merigold to host a festive workshop full of laughter, style, and seasonal sparkle
“It really is an amazing kind of experience creating these little environments where everybody’s happy. You look around—everybody’s joyful. It’s just an extraordinary experience,” says David Ecton. The vivacious transplanted Southerner makes up half of the Atlanta-area design duo Parker Kennedy Living. He and partner Lance Jackson established the firm in 2011, specializing in high-end residential and commercial interior design for clients across the U.S. and internationally, furniture restoration and product development. They recently spent a day in Merigold, bringing their unique brand of style blended with mirth via the creation of custom holiday topiaries. McCarty’s
The two hold workshops during which participants construct seasonal decorations glistening with colorful balls and tinsel. Now a nationwide phenomenon thanks in part to the firm’s wildly popular Instagram, the idea had its genesis in 2015. Ecton recalls, “One of our design clients out of San Francisco asked us to make a Christmas wreath for a charity event. We did so. Didn’t think anything of it. Well, that kind of blew up—people fell in love with that wreath. They started calling and asking us to make them.” Eventually, their friendship with influencer Lydia Menzies led to the first topiary-making class, an event for her “Supper Club,” a support network for business owners in the hospitality and entertaining niches.
“We got on the road and did it as a class, and the next thing you know, people started calling us,” Ecton says. “It wasn’t something that we said to the universe, ‘Let’s go do this.’ The universe said, ‘You need to be out there meeting people and seeing faces.’ And that’s what we did.”
Parker Kennedy’s 2025 workshop schedule includes events in Boston, Dallas, Tampa, Charlotte…and Merigold. Ecton and Jackson brought their talents to the Delta thanks to the persistent effort of Jenny Smith, wife of Jamie Smith. “I can fill a room,” Ecton remembers her telling him when she first called last winter to pitch the idea of bringing a workshop to her adopted hometown. In March, Smith made a solo drive to Athens, Georgia, to meet him and Jackson at one of Menzies’ networking dinner parties. “I didn’t know that she was coming. What a surprise and what a delight! It really took me aback,” says Ecton. I told Lance, ‘This is something we have to do.’”
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” says Smith. Once Parker Kennedy agreed to hold a workshop in Merigold, she knew she had to create the perfect spot for the class. She had just the place, adjacent to the McCarty property in Merigold. The building had served as a farm office and then as a home before being used for storage. Now mostly empty, it was ready for a major facelift to realize her vision of making it into an event space.
Fresh white paint top to bottom gave the interior a clean, new look. “It’s a wonderful blank slate,” says Smith. “It’s open and airy, and the porch is fabulous.”
Smith made good on her promise to fill a room, gathering about thirty participants excited to create their own Christmas masterpiece on a warm early fall day. Delta locals as well as people from across the state, and some who’d traveled from Arkansas and Tennessee, mingled over lemonade on the porch at the pre-event meet and greet with the Parker Kennedy team, got to know each other during lunch, then settled in for the main event.
With running commentary that mingled detailed instructions and hilarious personal anecdotes, Ecton guided the class on topiary construction while Jackson provided hands-on help, encouragement and suggestions. The finished products were all as different as the people who made them, reflecting each participant’s personal style. The proud creators gathered back on the porch, masterpieces in hand, for a group picture and hugs to cap off the day.
It was clear, however, that the attendees weren’t the only ones who had a great time. Ecton and Jackson raved about their first visit to the Delta, with high praise for the place and the people. Says Ecton, “Being down here and seeing this beautiful farmland has been amazing. Coming here, we’ve felt so welcomed. There’s an amazing sense of open arms and joy, so much energy. Everybody has such a way of making people feel at home, like you’re a part of their family. And you just don’t experience that everywhere.”
The pair also sang Smith’s praises, noting her tenacity and vision. Says Ecton, “Jenny Smith is like the Mississippi River itself. It’s dynamic and she is, too. It is always going in new directions, and so is she.” Case in point is Smith’s newly launched Instagram, Social on St. Mary. The account will showcase tablescapes with McCartys dinnerware as the foundational element for each table setting and will also include hostess and entertaining tips. In addition, Social on St. Mary will offer events similar to the Parker Kennedy Living topiary class in the future.
Ecton hinted that an encore event could be in the works. “There was nothing holding Jenny back about getting us here. And I’ll tell you this, there’s nothing holding us back from coming back.”
Smith concurs, hinting that she has other events in development for her new venue. “I love bringing special events to Merigold that let people see and feel the charm of our little Delta town. There’s just something about being here that makes people fall in love with it,” she says. “They end up loving it, just like we do.”
If you don’t already follow Jenny’s instagram account please check it out, @socialonstmary.
