People nationwide are rallying to support a grocery store in northern Michigan after a vandal destroyed one of their Pride month-themed cakes.
A cake decorator at Family Fare Supermarket in Boyne City had adorned several of the bakery’s cakes with rainbows and multicolored butter cream in honor of Pride month. Though the cakes were received positively on social media, where the decorator had posted pictures of her creations, not all felt the same.
A co-worker found that one of the Pride cakes in the bakery’s cooler had been smashed, falling apart underneath the squashed plastic container.
“Initially, I felt disheartened ... like someone was going to say, ‘If you didn’t want that to happen, you shouldn’t have done it,’” the decorator, who asked not to be named, said in an interview with NBC affiliate WPBN.
However, she decided to post a picture of the act of vandalism on social media. She said she wanted the cake’s destruction to be known to the world because the vandal “hid it and wanted it to be a secret.”
Boyne City resident Carrie Miller, one of many who saw the picture, said the cake’s destruction didn’t feel right.
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“It just kind of hurt my heart,” Miller said. “People should be able to celebrate whatever they want to celebrate, whether it's a Pride cake or birthday cake.”
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She posted that she would sponsor the purchase of 10 Pride-themed cakes from the grocery store’s bakery. Since then, Miller said people living as far as Vermont have reached out about sponsoring a cake in solidarity.
“It’s turned a bad situation into, hopefully, something more positive,” she added.
The Family Fare cake decorator said the nationwide support brought her to tears and that what’s most important is people knowing there are others standing up for them.
“Cake is cake,” the decorator said. “Cake is a celebration. That’s why I created it: so someone can have something to celebrate with.”
She said the Pride cakes are for everybody and anybody to enjoy.