Tag: Somersworth, New Hampshire

According to Soldati, his father is “a kind of bold, speaks-truth-to-power kind of guy.” It got Soldati to thinking about how to marry those two ideas: New Hampshire being a kind of political lightning-rod state with Michael’s very live-your-best-life, speak-your-truth mentality. And, Emmett said to the point: “How can we sell bubble tea at the same time?” “We had just painted in Teatotaller and people have responded really well to our renovation and Michael had a few wigs that were shaking the internet — taking Instagram by storm — and I thought, OK, we need this wig and we need this model and this statement kind of all rolled into one and it just kind of rolled off the tongue,” Soldati said. “I think someone asked me, ‘When are peaches in season,’ and I was like peaches are in season now,” Soldati laughed. That kicked off some of the creative inspiration. Soldati described Cummings as a naturally good model who performs very well in front of the camera, so the shoot was easy. “We were kind of concerned at first it wasn’t going to get posted or there was going to be some push-back, but we fought through and we made it happen,” Soldati said. “There it is on West High Street.” Cummings said he’s known Soldati since seventh grade and the billboard was not a stretch for him. There is the 10 percent of people who are “just sort of the haters and people that complain and a lot of times, they’re not from here,” Soldati said. “They’re trying to involve themselves in a community that is very eccentric, a community that is playful and embraces difference and I just know people get a kick out of this. People have been texting me non-stop saying we are laughing all the way back from Rochester on West High Street.