It was already a big day at Reading Terminal Market Saturday with the annual ice cream festival drawing frozen dessert enthusiasts on another sweltering July day in Philadelphia. And then things ramped up a notch when a motorcade pulled up outside on 12th Street, delivering Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fresh off her speech to a gathering of Asian and Pacific Islander American voters at the Pennsylvania Convention Center around the corner, Harris stopped in to make a brief visit to Little Thai Market, joined by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Not surprising, given their clout, they were able to skip the market’s notoriously long lines.

Onlookers lifted their phones to record as they whispered, “That’s Kamala.”

Debbi Katz was wondering what she should cook for dinner when she was stopped by a Secret Service agent and told Harris was making her way to the vendor.

“I hope I get to meet her,” she said she thought to herself. Next thing Katz knew, Harris was shaking her hand.

Still trying to grapple with the unexpected encounter, Katz managed to tell the vice president how happy she was to meet her and thanked her for coming to Philly.

“Thank you so much, it’s great to be here. I love Philadelphia,” she recalled Harris saying.

Susiliawati Tjiputra was working the food line at Little Thai when she suddenly noticed men in suits followed by Harris.

She recalls Harris saying “hi” as a crowd of people began surrounding them.

“She just got a big order,” Tjiputra said. “She got salmon curry, that’s the most popular, pop Thai chicken, chicken masala and chicken yellow.”

Tjiputra handed her the meal, but their exchange was brief and she didn’t think much of the experience, other than being shocked by the amount of people who gathered around to catch a glimpse of the person who made history as the first Asian American, woman, and Black person to serve as vice president in the midst of a rough battle to a woman trying to get her and President Joe Biden elected to a second term.