LUFKIN, Texas — An East Texas bakery has a whole new customer base after a devastating day led to a weekend full of love and support.
June, which is also Pride Month, didn't start out great for Confections in Lufkin.
On June 3, the small-town bakery took to Facebook to promote their Pride Month cookies.
The post read:
"More LOVE. Less hate. Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here."
Little did they know the backlash they would soon receive.
The next day, the bakery revealed they received hateful messages, orders were canceled and their Facebook "likes" where plummeting.
"Today has been hard. Really hard," a Facebook post from June 3 read. "We lost a significant amount of followers because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted. We received a very hateful message on our business page canceling a large order (5dz) of summer themed cookies for tomorrow morning (that we just finished decorating) because of a rainbow heart cookie we posted. My heart is heavy. Honestly I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods. So. If you love our cookies we will have an over abundance of them tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
However, that heartbreaking post would turn out to be a huge blessing.
Overnight, the post was shared across social media. And the response was overwhelming.
When the bakery opened on Friday, they were flooded with orders and requests from all across the U.S. People were even lined up on W. Shepherd Ave. to show their support for the bakery and pick up some sweet treats.
Not only did folks rush to get the rainbow heart cookies, but Confections sold out of everything in the store.
People like Mark Cuban's brother, Brian, even said they would purchase cookies over the phone and the bakery could donate them to local LGBTQ+ organizations and other charities.
"When things slow down a bit, let us know if shipping is possible. I’d like to support you," Cuban said. "If shipping isn’t possible, I’ll buy some by phone/email and you can donate my cookies to a local LGBTQ org or children’s charity."
The bakery reopens on Tuesday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and they're sure to be flooded with more orders and love.
And to quote Confections:
"More love. Less hate. Always."