QuickTake:

On Monday morning, someone threw a brick through the front door of Peek-A-Boo Delight, an ice cream shop specializing in Mexican sweets. The owner, Alma Vasquez, said the incident follows a string of aggressive acts she called “racially motivated.”

The morning after someone shattered the glass door at Alma Vasquez’s ice cream shop in downtown Eugene, Rodger Deevers got out his brush and drove to Peek-A-Boo Delight.

For the next two hours, he painted the plywood makeshift door, ensuring that when customers walked in, they’d see Peek-A-Boo Delight’s name and cuddly mascot, a winking teddy bear holding an ice cream cone — not the scene of a crime. 

“I wanted to take a negative and make it a positive,” said Deevers, a financial adviser and friend of Vasquez’s. “In painting this, I feel better.”

For Vasquez, Deevers’ art brought color and light to what had been an act of vandalism.

Rodger Deevers paints on the piece of plywood that was placed over Peek-A-Boo Delight’s shattered glass door in Eugene, Feb. 3, 2026. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

Another organization offered to replace the glass door at no charge. Others came in to buy a paleta — a Mexican-style popsicle — and chat with Vasquez. These acts of community have uplifted the Eugene business owner in the hours after her glass door was broken, she said.

‘It broke my heart’

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 2, an employee at John Henry’s, a bar steps from Peek-A-Boo on Willamette Street, called 911 and told police that someone saw what appeared to be teenagers throwing a brick through a window at the ice cream shop. Two teen males in black hoodies were seen running down a nearby alley shortly after the window was shattered, according to a Eugene Police Department spokesperson. 

Janys-Iren Faughn, the venue booker at John Henry’s, told Lookout they worked the bar while other staff members grabbed plywood from the basement to cover Vasquez’s door and wait until police arrived.

Police are still investigating the incident, including whether it was racially or politically motivated, according to a police spokesperson.

A Eugene police officer had called Vasquez shortly after arriving at the scene, she said.

“Can you wait for me?” she asked, hopping out of bed and driving the 30 minutes to Peek-A-Boo Delight. The officer who called greeted her, and they went inside the shop. Nothing had been stolen or further vandalized, she said.

“It was just the window, but it broke my heart,” Vasquez said. “I felt so alone.”

Speaking out

Vasquez doesn’t know why Peek-A-Boo was vandalized, but it follows a string of incidents over the past year that she called “racially motivated.” Last May, a man came into her shop, asking her if she was a citizen. He became aggressive and tried entering the back, past a large “Employees Only” sign. When Vasquez tried to stop him, he pushed a heavy machine toward her. She caught it but injured her hand. 

“He intimidated me,” she said, looking toward the front of her shop. 

A separate time, someone else yanked her “Ice Cream” flag down, and another broke one of her foldable sign boards. In October, a man came into her shop and asked Vasquez, “Why is it ‘Mexican’ ice cream? Why can’t it be American?”

“Mom would be shaken up all day,” said Itzel Bigot, Vasquez’s daughter. “It’s upsetting. My mom works really hard. She wants to have a peaceful environment. She wants her business to be a community space for everyone.”

Woman in ice cream shop at table with 4 scoops of ice cream on carry out server
Alma Vasquez shows her Mexican ice cream inside Peek-A-Boo Delight in a photograph from this past summer. Credit: Vanessa Salvia / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Vasquez didn’t want to attract more negative attention by sharing the incidents publicly, but the broken glass was a turning point.

“We’ve been silent for a long time,” Bigot said. “We don’t want other people to go through the same thing. By speaking up, my mom hopes other people decide not to stay silent.”

One woman’s ice cream dream: Authentic Mexican flavors made with real fruit 

When Bigot posted photos of the shattered glass on Peek-A-Boo’s Instagram account, she just wanted people to know her mom’s business was still open. She didn’t expect the post to garner nearly 1,700 likes in two days. 

“We’re feeling enormously grateful for everyone who’s come out,” Bigot said. “We didn’t realize how big the community we have around us is.”

“I’m grateful people want to help,” Vasquez said. “It makes me so happy. I feel like I’m not lonely.”

Vasquez said she doesn’t want or need donations. She said she wants other local business owners and community members to feel empowered to speak out about their own experiences with racism and violence. She wants people to support other downtown Eugene businesses.

Most of all, Vasquez wants to keep making ice cream.

Taylor Goebel covers Lane County's food and drink scene. She has nearly a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, having reported across the Mid-Atlantic on dining, food systems, education, healthcare, local elections, labor and business. She was most recently a food reporter in Washington state, where she documented a fourth-generation fishing family, covered a David vs. Goliath conflict between a national coffee chain and a small Turkish cafe, and had many culinary firsts, from ensaymadas and gilgeori (Korean street) toast to morels and black cod.