A quick stop for coffee on campus took a bit longer on a day back in October, as fans of the comedy-drama television show Gilmore Girls packed into Peter B’s Espresso café to take part in a promotional event involving 200 coffee shops across the nation.
Kelly Vaughan ’17, a Peter B’s manager and barista, said that Trinity’s Peter B’s was one of just two cafés in Connecticut enlisted by Netflix to promote its Gilmore Girls revival miniseries, A Year in the Life, by handing out 250 free cups of coffee, courtesy of Netflix. Vaughan and fellow baristas embraced the chance to turn Peter B’s into Luke’s Diner, the regular hangout of characters Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.
Dressed in flannel shirts and backward baseball caps (just like Luke in Gilmore Girls), Peter B’s staff served coffee in Luke’s branded coffee cups and welcomed visitors who traveled from across the state, including from East Haven, Durham, and Clinton, as well as from Springfield, Massachusetts, to share in the experience. A reporter from Fox 61 stopped by to report on the event and to interview Vaughan and other Trinity students.
Set mostly in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2007. Vaughan noted that she happened to have binge-watched all episodes of the show over the summer and quickly became a fan. The four-part miniseries was released in November on Netflix.