ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Every good American story begins with a cherry tree, from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, and even Rochester local Paul Cummings.
"A long time ago, we had a couple cherry trees leaning up against the house. We chopped them up and one day I brought the logs into work and just started slicing them up and putting them together. Then we had a flag," Cummings said.
That one flag has turned into opening up Rochester's The Charred Flag Factory in 2018 and more than 1,500 flags that have mostly gone to firefighters, and police and military officers, until recently.
"We started opening it up by asking people what does the American flag mean to you and then you get a whole bunch of requests. You get guitars. You get my vacation home in Olcott Beach," said Cummings.
Creating all new designs, he eventually got an idea right before the Bills defeated the Patriots.
2020 was a tough year for many Western New Yorkers and businesses, including Cummings', but to get through it, he turned to his favorite team.
"As the season went on, every week we were looking forward to the Buffalo Bills, I wanted to take my skill and doing something nice for them given that they take their skill and provided a little relief during a really rough time," Cummings said.
Those skills turned into a wooden flag specially designed for the Bills.
Cummings was just going to hang it up with all his other creations but that quickly changed.
"As time went on, the team got better and we decided it needed to go somewhere," he said.
Cummings went to Facebook asking a private Bills Mafia group with over 200,000 members to help him get connected with the team.
He finally did and gave it to Bills' head coach Sean McDermott on Tuesday.
"I genuinely think he liked the flag. He told us he was going to put it in his office," Cummings said.
That means the entire team will get to see it too.
"It's pretty nerve-wracking honestly, even with Sean McDermott seeing it everyday," Cummings said. "You do work hard and when you get to that point and pull if off, it's not time to relax, it's ok we're on the right path."
Every good American story may begin with a cherry tree, but it continues on with fellow Americans who support your dreams and make it all possible along the way.