‘You gotta tap it when it’s hot’: Business owner tries to keep up with demand for Royals keepsakes

LENEXA, Kan. — At first, Meggan Smith’s metal decor is a little rough around the edges.

As she sands down the metal in her workshop it resembles the Kansas City Royals from last season.

With 106 losses in 2023, that team needed to be smoothed out.

Smith said since starting her maker business, Mrs. Pallet Decor, about seven years ago, her customers have wanted to decorate with more Arrowheads than Crowns.

“Me being Kansas City born and raised, it kind of has blossomed in the Kansas City theme stuff,” said Smith. “Kind of coming off of the Royals win too from 2015, so people were still excited about the Royals, but then the Chiefs really amped up things a lot.”

Smith’s decor has shifted in recent weeks.

“You gotta tap it when it’s hot,” she said.

She’s talking about the demand for Royals designs.

After doing a recent fall makers show, Smith sold out of her Royals decor and realized she needed to increase her inventory.

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Smith finds the creative process fulfilling. She starts by doodling her ideas in her children’s notebooks. They don’t all make the cut to the plasma cutter.

The plasma cutter machine cuts her intricate details into the metal sheets, turning it into something familiar. A little like how the Royals are starting to look like the team fans knew a decade ago.

Smith then sands and polishes the metal before her she adds her signature touch: reclaimed wood.

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“I like to backlight them, because I’m just kind of obsessed with the mixed media,” Smith said. “The backlighting just makes it kind of pop.”

It’s the contrast between old and new.

The team nine years ago contrasted with the team now trying to reclaim what was once theirs — a World Series title.

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