EAST LONGMEADOW, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - An East Longmeadow baker has recently faced death threats after posting controversial cookies on social media but, on Thursday morning, the community showed up in a big way, again.

Before dawn on Thursday, a line started forming outside The Sweet Boutique. By the time they opened, customers were wrapped around the block and they sold out of cookies in just 16 minutes. This is a story that’s sparked a debate about free speech and small business in western Massachusetts.

It all started when owner Niki Moran posted cookies with a four-letter word followed by three letters - ICE - on social media on Sunday and the post went viral. Moran told Western Mass News she made them to express her frustration about immigration raids and deportations happening across the country.

“We just saw all the protests going on and we were like, well, you know what, this is how we feel about it. I’m just going to put it on a cookie. It’s my small business. That’s the great thing about owning a business is everybody says don’t put politics into it. But like owning a business, politics is in my small business. It is what it is and I’ve always been pretty vocal about how I feel about it,” Moran said.

The Reaction was swift. Moran said she received death threats and online harassment, but she also saw overwhelming support from the community. Thursday morning, Moran doubled the number of cookies from Wednesday. The line started forming at 7:30 am. and they sold out in 16 minutes. Moran is donating all earnings from the social media engagement, plus some of the profit, to the Immigrant Defense Project.

Moran told us she won’t back down and plans to continue using her platform to speak out.

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