The Ices Vendor

The winter months in Worcester have been increasingly harsh over the last few years, by my standards.  I say “by my standards” because a good friend of my older sister, a gentleman from Alaska, would walk around during winter in flip-flops and shorts until the snow reached his ankles.  But I digress…

It is during these times that I think back to summer in New England and blissfully reminisce about the sunshine and warm evenings, and how I worked as a groundskeeper at Clark two summers ago, enjoying the hazy days while I pulled weeds and mowed the grass (of course, it rained for twenty-eight days of that June, but that’s not important).  One of my fondest memories of summertime is Worcester is the Ices Vendor.  Nearly every day the sun was out and the rainclouds retreated, a small sidewalk vending cart would park itself outside of a Spanish-English Christian bookstore on Main Street, not far from my apartment at the time.  The man who worked the vendor also ran the bookstore, and would move back and forth between the counter inside and a lawn chair outside by the cart throughout the day.  He always sold the same flavors: coconut, lemon, cherry, and sometimes a flavor he simply called “rainbow”.  I would often stop by the cart once a week for a coconut ice; it was the perfect thing immediately after sweating out in the sun for eight hours.  I didn’t develop any relationship with the vendor; I never even asked him what his name was and where was he from, but I was always grateful for the treat he’d provide during the few hot months that struck Worcester.

I’m still not sure if the ices have any cultural relevance or if it was just a way to generate some extra revenue.  Regardless, it’s an example of the importance of “street food” to urban communities and a landmark for residents.  If you’re ever in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester during the summer, I recommend checking out a certain bookstore between Beaver and Clement Streets.  You might be surprised to find a reprieve from the heat.