Flags flap in the summer breeze drawing attention to the small store known as the “Deweyville Mini-Mall.” Confederate flags are as prominent as the homegrown Sugartown watermelons stacked outside. The produce stand at the corner of Texas 12 and Texas 87 has been a Southeast Texas landmark for decades. And for many of those years, the confederate flag has been part of the merchandise. The country is now emotionally exchanging opinions on the battle flag that is more than 150 years old. For the Brown family, which owns and operates the store, that flag, along with dozens of other flag designs, is a way for a farmer to make a living.
Mr. Brown doesn’t want attention because of the flag. Lately, his son has been getting hateful emails. But he’s friendly and talkative. His wife, Miss Angie, is with him in the store, along with their grown son.
The family grows the watermelons–red and yellow meat– along with the peaches, plums, crowder peas, speckled butter beans, corn and okra. And don’t forget the tomatoes, green and ripe, or the giant cantaloupe hybrid. Brown said one reached nine pounds.
“My grandpa left me 30 acres in Sugartown,” he said. The Louisiana town is across the nearby Sabine River and is famous for the soil that grows sweet watermelons. He also farms in Nichols Creek, farther north in Newton County.
The tradition of farming is how the business developed. His father started it as a farm stand and it grew. Brown has operated the store for 28 years. He started selling flags of all kinds “when my garden was slow,” he said. He’s proud that his stock includes American flags, Texas flags and those from the branches of the military, including the Coast Guard. The inventory includes flags of all sizes and designs, including decorative ones for holidays. However, the confederate flag draws business and sometimes bad looks from people who drive by. “I don’t understand all the talk about it. I’m proud of our confederate flag,” he said. He has African-American customers and they don’t complain.
The confederate flag is so popular that the Browns expanded their stock of confederate flag items. Away from the produce, is a section full of decorative country-style items that includes what might be the largest stock of confederate-flag items in this area. A sign hangs from the unpainted board beams reads “Welcome to the Hollar.” One counter includes queen and king size sheet sets made of 1,000 count thread and Egyptian cotton. The sheets are covered with the confederate flag. Customers can also find confederate clocks and a lamp with a carved base with a tableau of Civil War items, including a prominent confederate flag. A humorous parking sign has the flag with the words “Confederate Parking Only: All Others Go Back North.” Ball caps have confederate flags, but that design is one of many. A Mason can even get a cap at the Deweyville Mini-Mall.
Dozens of cotton welders caps hang in rows from the ceiling. A few have a confederate design printed on the material, but most have different designs. A customer can find burnt orange ones with a longhorn or purple and gold LSU ones. A couple of Houston Texans caps are in the mix, along with a Green Bay Packers cap. Brown admits that one has been hanging a while, but he has sold Green Bay caps. The welder caps are a tradition at the store. “The same lady has been making those for us since 1972,” he said.
The Browns store has the feel of a co-op. Eclectic small metal sculptures are for sale. Miss Angie said a friend makes those. They get artwork of Native Americans from a nearby tribe and send part of the money back. The family also shows off their craftsmanship. Their son makes rustic bird houses. They get used wooden shipping pallets to make flat painted decorative signs. Miss Angie paints designs with sayings like “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” or “Man Cave.”
Miss Angie’s homemade jellies, jams and preserves are lined up on shelves of two walls, including versions for diabetics. She even makes a diabetic recipe of fig preserves. And no, the crawfish jelly doesn’t have crawfish. It’s pepper jelly, spicy like crawfish. People like to eat it over cream cheese on crackers. The big jars of pickled eggs include a Cajun-style. “We’re all a little bit Cajun,” she said.
Hurricanes Rita and Ike demolished the store. Brown said they didn’t have insurance; so they went through the rubble and pulled it out “board by board” to rebuild. That’s the love they have for their business, located at the only traffic light in a town of 1,200. The Deweyville Mini-Mall has provided a living for the Browns and the confederate flag is part of it.
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