In two decades of “pushing the envelope,” Bob Ferguson can name a few doozies he’s plopped in the storefront window of his shoe repair shop in Highland Square.
Generally, the sidewalk showcase at Highland Shoe Repair challenges passers-by with provocative spins on current events, mostly holidays or movies. There was the Christmas with “Nippy the Elf,” a decorated mannequin whose anatomical parts always seemed to “point” to the North Pole.
“It’s kind of like working out my frustration of not being an editorial cartoonist,” Ferguson said of a past profession.
But this time, he’s gone far enough to elicit threats of bodily harm.
For the month of February, Ferguson dressed a mannequin up as Lady Liberty. The brown paper bag over her head symbolizes, in the eye of some beholders, the limited and impaired freedoms in Trump’s America.
In rants written in thick marker and posted on the shopkeeper’s front door, an anonymous person defends a recent ban on refugees. “Anyone who thinks differently is anti-American, don’t [sic] care about our safety or is just a plain a**hole.”
“Trump is doing a wonderful job,” the writer continued, citing a bullish stock market and suggesting that a large crowd of protesters will block entry to Ferguson’s shop, which is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Ferguson shrugged off the notes. But on Saturday, a threat arrived he could not ignore.
Menacing caller
The cobbler had called the police out that morning to investigate the Friday disappearance of a handbag he used to carry money and personal effects.
The bag came up missing after he stepped out of the shop for three minutes, Ferguson told the officer.
Just then, the phone rang and the officer stepped outside. It was a man, spouting praise for President Donald Trump and vulgarities at the cobbler — mimicking phrases in the letters found on his front door.
“I blew a raspberry into the phone and hung up,” said Ferguson, who went outside to tell the officer.
Back in the shop, the phone rang again. Ferguson immediately recognized the voice and, without hesitation, handed the receiver to the officer. “His eyes widened, and he started writing notes,” Ferguson said.
In a police report filed Saturday afternoon, the officer described “what sounded like a middle-aged white male … Among other things, this male stated that the store’s front windows might be broken at some point and the store might be burnt down.”
“Donald Trump is our beloved president,” the man says in a message Ferguson replayed on his answering machine. “… Get that f*****’ s*** out of your window.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, police had not concluded their investigation or made any arrests.
Touchy times
The threats against a local businessman, who worries more for his landlord’s property than his personal safety, come at a time of political hypersensitivity following Trump’s first weeks in office.
On the afternoon of his inauguration, which was attended by hundreds of protesters, demonstrators not far from the White House peacefully lambasted Trump’s “America First” agenda while more militant detractors, some masked in black bandanas, set a limousine and newspaper racks aflame before busting out a police vehicle window.
Liberal protesters — upset with Trump’s ties to the so-called alt-right, a white nationalist movement, which they allege is evidenced by his choice of former Breitbart news CEO Steve Bannon as chief strategist — have shut down speaking engagements on college campuses from Berkeley, Calif., to New York City. Some have turned violent, resulting in police force, arrests and vandalism.
The name-calling and violent threats in Highland Square follow a local man setting himself on fire a few blocks away from Ferguson’s shop. The man, a veteran frustrated with the rancor of the election, survived with deep burns to much of his body.
This political unrest and an uptick in purse snatchings have led Akron police to up their Highland Square foot patrols in the past six months, said department spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards.
Not afraid
Ferguson is a former Daily Kent Stater editorial cartoonist.
He attended Kent State from 1975 to 1976 and again from 1986 to 1988. “I got an education but not a degree,” the studio art major said.
Between his “headlong struggles” in higher education, Ferguson enlisted in the Army and served as a military police officer at Fort Ritchie in Maryland from 1983 to 1986.
He’s a tall man with thick arms and full white beard.
“I’m not afraid of bullies,” he said, deftly waving a black baseball bat he keeps tucked behind the counter.
He wears his politics on a button pinned to his grease-stained denim apron. “Please God,” it reads, “No More Republicans.”
The satirical cobbler
The Highland Shoe Repair shop is a time machine laced with satire, history and provocation.
“It would itself seem archaic,” Ferguson said, surrounded by shoes and the scent of genuine leather. “One would walk in and seem to have stepped back a couple decades, which isn’t a bad thing.”
On the wall are autographed photos of the cobbler standing next to iconic locals whose shoes he’s mended.
Big Chuck and Little John with Dick Goddard. Patrick Carney of the Black Keys smiling outside the shop. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, who would always be late picking up her shoes, he noted. “Hers are always synthetic. People always ask,” Ferguson said.
Between the local faces are more autographed pictures of horror film stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, provocatively dressed female actresses and family portraits of his wife, daughter and late family dog, a white miniature poodle named Bosco (like the chocolate syrup but not a Seinfeld reference).
There’s an aged, framed newspaper article profiling his shop and a plaque capturing his time in the Army.
Above the evocatively bagged Statue of Liberty is a movie sticker of Luke Wilson in Idiocracy, a satirical film chronicling the dumbing of society.
Community support
Councilman Rich Swirsky, whose Akron ward includes Highland Square, announced on Facebook a gathering Wednesday night at the shoe repair shop.
The goal, Swirsky stressed, is to support a local businessman and the First Amendment, not a specific message.
“I’m going to ask them not to engage, because things heat up pretty quick,” Swirsky said of the dozens who might encounter Trump fans and conservatives from 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday while standing outside Ferguson’s shop.
At least 135 have liked the event on Facebook.
Angel Falls Coffee Co. will keep the crowd caffeinated, for free. Local artists have designed a support card to be signed by participants.
As for what attendees should bring to show their support, Ferguson said: “You don’t even need a sign. Just hold up a single shoe.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .