The cupcake that roared

By: Jeannette de Beauvoir, August 1, 2011

Jeannette de Beauvoir - Scott Cunningham, owner of ScottCakes, got in trouble for selling his wares on Commercial Street.

These days, you can buy a delicious pink-frosted cupcake from ScottCakes, a charming little shop across the streets from the Provincetown Library, and stroll down the street enjoying it— knowing that if you wanted to, you could go back and get another.

But that wasn’t always the case.

Scott Cunningham came to Provincetown from New York to act in a play. Like so many of us, he ended up staying. But unlike many other wash-ashores, he had a dream: to bake the cupcakes that had enchanted his little corner of the city back when he was a nanny there—and make a business of it.

It sounds pretty simple. The reality was anything but.

Scott applied for the necessary permit to sell food, and was given it. He established himself on private property belonging to his friend Christian Soderstrom, who owned Southstream Design, and began selling his delectable snacks. Along came the police: you can’t do that here!

“Yes, I can,” Cunningham said. “I have the permits.” He got a ticket anyway. And another. And another.

Commercial Street Cupcake Fight

That was the beginning of the Commercial Street Cupcake Fight. As soon as Cunningham set up shop, he’d be fined again. He moved to the old firehouse location, working a deal with two nonprofits so that part of his sales went to a good cause, and still he was ticketed.

He received permits not once, but twice. Town Hall later said that under a zoning bylaw, he shouldn’t have been granted them in the first place. 

“I was issued a license for two years,” Cunningham notes. “Not only did I have my livelihood taken away, but the fines on top of it!”

Cunningham decided to let the issue be resolved in court and had a date set. Provincetown surged in his defense, and T-shirts began appearing with the words, “Legalize Gay Cupcakes!” and “Free Scott!”

Town Hall officials remained silent on the issue, and then independent filmmaker Steve Lyons came to town to shoot a film, including a scene of Cunningham flirtaciously selling a cupcake to an actress.

The filmmaker had cleared the film with the town, but when the pink-frosted cupcakes reappeared, Cunningham was again set upon by Provincetown’s finest—who were, it has to be said, among his most faithful customers when they weren’t busy writing him tickets!

The film appearance seemed to be the final straw. Town officials dropped the charges in Orleans District Court—an actual disappointment to ScottCakes supporters, who organized on the street and via Facebook to come to the trial—and this year, finally, Cunningham opened his very own shop.

“You have to follow your dream,” he said. “You can’t let anything stand in your way.”

Just desserts?

For Cunningham, the cupcakes are more than tasty desserts.

“Don’t get me wrong; they’re good cupcakes,” he explains. “But they’re about joy, really. About spreading joy. You can’t be unhappy when you’re eating a cupcake!”

These days on Commercial Street you’ll see the ScottCakes pink boxes everywhere, as people take them home, to their hotels, to eat on the beach. Even more people simply eat them as they stroll. And they all look happy.

The cupcake did indeed roar.

ScottCakes        

353 Commercial Street (across from the library), Provincetown

Closed Tuesdays