Pride flag stolen from Cape Cod restaurant, burned

DENNIS -- During the Fourth of July weekend, The Sailing Cow was packed on Cape Cod. "I have a nice little beach bar here," said restaurant owner Robyn Thibodeau.

But in the midst of the busy restaurant, their pride flag -- waving proudly outside -- vanished.

Pride flag burned in parking lot

"One of my bus kids noticed that some kids came and stole a flag, and he ran across the street at the beach to get the flag and they were burning it in the parking lot," Thibodeau said.

The bright rainbow colors of the flag were now shredded and turned to black.

"We've always been a restaurant that we don't care about race, religion, creed, color. We were hanging the pride flag for pride awareness month," she said.

The Dennis Police Department responded to the incident on July 2, and when they arrived, police say the group of teens and young adults involved had dispersed -- leaving them with no leads. Thibodeau said she told police that she wouldn't drop the case.

"This to me is not just an apology," she said. "There was a lot of people in here that were very upset about it. They knew they were stealing a flag and they burned it."

She said she's hopeful that the group will learn their lesson. "The pride flag means a lot to a lot of people," Thibodeau said. "They fought hard for their rights and to burn it is just disrespectful. I just can't believe there's that much hate right now in the world."

Community help

In the meantime, the summer hotspot is moving forward for the better with help from the community, including "Murphy's," the local general store -- they donated a new flag for free, and others offered to help, too.

"There's still good in the world," Thibodeau said.

The Sailing Cow is a beloved member of the Dennis community, dedicated to serving neighbors. Their charity, Cow-Munity , raises money for random acts of kindness, donating gift cards to teachers, groceries to families dealing with cancer and books to libraries.

"I have no idea why it would happen here," said loyal customer Martha Ruch. "We stand behind them."

WBZ reached out to the Dennis Police Department to ask if they're investigating the incident as a hate crime. They said if suspects are found, they will work to determine a motive.