Around campus this semester, you may have noticed the Peddler: the canopied gray-and-red steel tricycle cart that sells drinks on Britton Plaza and provides refreshments at student events. The cart, built and run by students since 2012, has been a staple at Dickinson for a decade. For the past few years, though, its future has been uncertain.
The Dickinsonian talked with the Peddler’s baristas as they were setting up for this semester’s last day on Britton Plaza. They were ready for any weather with hot cocoa, chilled cider and coffee both iced and hot—plus syrups, marshmallows, whipped cream and several milk options.
Head Barista Ivy Johnson ‘24 gave a rough outline of the Peddler’s recent history. The pandemic brought operations to a halt, but even after students returned to campus, the Peddler has been on the fritz.
“Dickinson has continuously tried to stomp out The Peddler, and they have almost succeeded,” wrote then-Head Barista Mandy Porter ’23 in a Nov. 2022 opinion piece for The Dickinsonian. The last several years of Peddler history are a series of exiles: they were “abruptly” displaced from their S. High St. home by Farmworks, but found a new space in the then-empty Quarry, which they hoped to establish as a permanent space. They were then evicted in favor of Denim Coffee and moved across campus to the community kitchen at Allison Hall, which did not have adequate space or outlets to accommodate the Peddler’s operation, and administration declined to update the space.
By the time they found a tentative home last year, another problem had come up. “The cart had fallen into Disrepair with a capital-D,” said Johnson, and it became challenging to move the cart across campus. She credited the Handlebar, Dickinson’s bike-repair co-op, for getting it back in working order.
Not handy with a bike wrench? Students can get involved with the Peddler, or support them with a purchase; they prefer cash but always accept payments via Venmo. Plus, students who bring their own cup get a discount on their beverages for keeping sustainability in mind.
“I never would have imagined we would be fully operating this semester,” said Johnson. She stressed that the Peddler is intended as a way for students to have fun and connect; there seemed to be just as many people stopping by to chat as to buy coffee. Johnson hopes to keep the wheel turning by partnering with more student organizations, which they did on Nov. 14 with WDCV.
The Peddler is finished with its weekly hours for the fall semester, but students & organizations looking to get involved with the Peddler should reach out to them at [email protected] and Ivy Johnson at [email protected].
