Patrons perusing the shelves of Union Square wine shop Wild Child on Saturday may have been surprised to find a delectable spread of cookies, blondies, and whoopie pies in its back room. The display beckoned customers not only to indulge in a sweet treat or two, but to “Ice Cakes Not People,” as the event was billed on social media and on a signboard at the store entrance.
The bake sale at Wild Child was one of more than a dozen held across the country this weekend under the “Ice Cakes” banner, and in support of local organizations aiming to support immigrants amidst federal immigration enforcement efforts. All the proceeds from the Union Square event were for the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts, which connects organizations across the state working for immigration justice.
The bake sale was the brainchild of former Cambridge resident Amy Larson, a designer and owner of Matriarch Boutique in Newport, R.I., who began hosting bake sales at her store last year.
The initiative has drawn interest from businesses and citizens nationwide after Larson began advertising her bake sales online, she told Cambridge Day. For the most part, potential event hosts each out to Larson expressing interest in hosting their own cause-driven bake sale, and she provides them with a how-to toolkit to help them run the sale. She’ll also connect hosts to others in their area to “amplify efforts,” she said.
Many vulnerable communities cannot themselves “stick their neck out,” Larson said. “I have the capacity and the ability to organize and bring people together in my public space. I have the tools to be able to do it, and therefore I do feel I should do it,” she said.
At Wild Child, the offerings included were baked by local residents (including coffee cake made by the author of this piece). Aaron Cohen, who owns Gracie’s Ice Cream nearby, was one of those who baked cookies — chocolate chip with chocolate swirled through — at home to contribute to the event.
Neither Gracie’s nor the Wild Child team is new to activism and community engagement. The team at Wild Child also operates two sister locations, Bow Market wine bar Rebel Rebel and Porter Square restaurant Dear Annie. Rebel Rebel was first, opened in 2018 by sommelier and former wine and lifestyle writer Lauren Friel. In 2019, after Alabama passed a law seeking to ban almost all abortions in 2019, Rebel Rebel donated 100 percent of rosé sales over the course of two weeks to the Yellowhammer Fund, a reproductive advocacy organization serving the deep South. The Bow Market establishment also hosted a bake sale, selling goods donated by several local bakeries along with wine donated by other local establishments.
In some cases, interest has developed out of existing relationships. Dorchester retail store and arts space The Local Hand, which also held its bake sale over the weekend, stocks Larson’s retail products. And as a resident of Cambridge before moving to Rhode Island in 2022, Larson has herself shopped at Wild Child, she said.
Gracie’s has devised new flavors to support community causes. Last week’s lineup included a “F*** Cancer” flavor, which included bits of cookies that had been frozen following a December bake sale benefitting a community member with leukemia (co-hosted by Rebel Rebel, among other places). For Valentine’s Day, Gracie’s made a “Heated Rivalry” themed red and black raspberry blend and donated the profits to BAGLY, a Boston organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth.
“Hopefully, if businesses see how customers respond to us doing that, they’ll also feel comfortable doing that,” Cohen told Cambridge Day. “Because we’re like a neighborhood business, we have responsibility for building a neighborhood that is safe for everybody,” he continued.
In Cambridge, the community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Initiatives like Wild Child’s bake sale and Gracie’s community flavors give locals a small way to support big causes. While it was unclear just how much Wild Child’s bake sale raised, Larson said two-thirds of organizations had reported and as of Monday evening had raised upward of $23,000.
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