Nantucket Quarterboard Company Solves the Island’s Influencer Controversy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE · Media Contact nantucketsigns@gmail.com

(Nantucket, Mass) August 11, 2026 —Tempers flared, friends and neighbors stopped speaking to each other, and certain shop owners went to the mat as Nantucket’s influencer controversy went viral and became national news. While this was happening, Nantucket Quarterboard Company was quietly working behind the scenes.

“Are Influencers Barred From This Nantucket Shop?” The New York Times rhetorically asked. New York Magazine’s article “The Nantucket Locals Who Are Sick of Influencers” deeply investigated the situation. Other national media outlets covering the unfolding drama included the Today Show, USA Today, Fox Business, and many more.

Meanwhile, letter by letter, Nantucket Quarterboard Company was handcrafting a response. The result?

Golden letters proclaiming “Everyone Welcome” on a handsome quarterboard. “I think this sign says it all. Everyone is welcome on this island,” says Kelly Emery, founder and owner of Nantucket Quarterboard Company. Asked to expand, Emery sticks to the basics. Namely, the sign itself. It’s his “The Original” design (he offers eleven standard designs). The quarterboard is black with gold leaf letters in a traditional serif font modeled after the style of legendary quarterboard maker Paul McCarthy.

The piece was commissioned by Paige Lorenze and installed at her Dairy Boy shop on August 11, 2026. A prominent influencer, Lorenze saw an image on Instagram of the “No Influencers” quarterboard hanging in John Silvia’s Four Winds Crafts Guild and started swinging, proclaiming, among other things, that any criticism of influencers was inherently anti-feminist. When the conflict went viral, Lorenze commissioned the “Everyone Welcome” sign from Nantucket Quarterboard Company. Previously, the company produced Dairy Boy’s business sign and a Dairy Boy quarterboard (in its Nobadeer Beach design).

Of the hundreds of quarterboards he has made, “Everyone Welcome” has garnered the most attention, Emery notes. “It feels like this quarterboard achieved celebrity status,” he says.

About Quarterboards

Quarterboards displayed ships’ names and are called quarterboards from their position on the aft quarter of ships; after the war of 1812, the US government required ships to have their names affixed to distinguish legitimate vessels from pirate ships. The large number of shipwrecks off Nantucket led to islanders salvaging ships’ signs and displaying them, which evolved into today’s practice of ornamental quarterboards with house names.

About Nantucket Quarterboard Company and Kelly Emery, Founder and Owner

Nantucket Quarterboard Company was founded in late 2020. Emery created his first sign, a gift for his father, in a makers’ lab in Colorado, where he spent part of lockdown before moving back to Nantucket. Establishing his own business was inspired both by Nantucket’s strong tradition of craftsmanship and by his parents, who both created businesses on island—his father founded Indian Summer Board Shop in the late 1970s (now Broad Street Surf Shop) and his mother founded and ran the Nantucket Sewing Center on Main Street for more than thirty years. Emery is also a professional musician (trumpet) who has taught and performed on- and off-island for decades. He is a member of the local reggae/rock band Foggy Roots and performs frequently. He previously made outdoor instruments, including an aluminum xylophone that he installed at Tom Nevers Field in 2019.

For Further Information and/or Images Contact nantucketsigns@gmail.com.

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The Everyone Welcome quarterboard is available made to order in our Island Gift Shop.