Flag 13

CANTON (Stars)

Starbucks - Gloucester, Massachusetts

Footprints gathered over multiple days from staff at a Starbucks location.

FIELD (Stripes)

Mayflour - Rockport, Massachusetts

Ingredients gathered during the production of made-to-order high-end cakes and bakery items from a local bakery and coffee shop.

CANTON DETAIL

CANTON STORY

This section of the flag was created at a Starbucks. Starbucks feels like a big part of American culture to me and I thought it was a fitting location to include in one of the flags that are working to represent the different parts of American identity. It’s hard to go to most cities in America without seeing Starbucks on quite a few corners. I also had quite a few friends work at Starbucks just after college due to their great medical benefits package which feels like a particular part of our culture that seems worth representing. I don’t know about other countries but the way in which Americans use large corporations as a source for accessible healthcare is interesting to me.

I have a friend who works at this particular location and I
dropped in and asked him if I could leave a section on the floor at the location for a week or so. It was kind of crazy how busy the place was while I was there and how efficiently they were all working. The drive through has a huge screen that tracks how long people in their cars have been waiting with big countdown clocks that change from green to yellow to red depending on how long they’ve been waiting. It was mesmerizing to watch and I was blown away by the speed and interactions they were having with customers.

It’s funny, the flag section itself is super dirty but the store
was really well maintained and clean. When I went back a week later it took a while to find the wood section - one of the workers seemed to have “put it away” somewhere.

FIELD DETAIL

FIELD STORY

This section of the flag was made in the kitchen at Mayflour. Mayflower started as a high-end bakery focused on providing custom cakes for weddings and celebrations but the owner “experienced a disconnect from her local community and a desire to provide sweet treats for everyday enjoyment. In 2017 she broke through the wall of her kitchen into the tiny space next door, which now serves as a weekend shop where friends and neighbors can connect over coffee, and share in community.”

Mayflower is now not only a bakery but also a popular spot on the weekends for locals to drop in for coffee and baked goods. It’s tiny - maybe 4 people at a time can fit in the space, but they have a steady flow of customers and they’ve turned what was once a low-traffic spot behind a busy Dunkin Donuts into a popular weekend spot behind a now-closed Dunkin Donuts.