The Strasburg Creamery didn’t reopen on time this year, but the borough’s 40-year summertime tradition of ice cream on the square is slated to resume sometime next month.
Carrying on the legacy of the Strasburg Creamery are three local couples who have purchased the historic property in the center of town that includes a corner building with an ice cream shop, store and inn. Adjacent properties that were part of the recent $1.4 million sale recently housed a winery and a bakery.
The new owners eventually plan to renovate and upgrade the entire complex. But first, they’re focused on getting ready for a mid-July reopening of the ice cream shop and 11 rooms comprising The Strasburg Village Inn.
“Our goal is to give it a fresh face and get open for the summer months as best we can,” said Jeremy Peifer, who along with his wife, Jenna, is one of the new owners. “We want to do this right and lean into the history of the building and what’s here.”
From the left, Brian Funk , Jeremy Peifer, and Tyler Martin are the new co-owners of the Strasburg Creamery complex in Strasburg on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
When it reopens, the plan is for The Strasburg Creamery to feature 24 flavors of hand-dipped ice cream made especially for the shop by a creamery near Lancaster County the owners declined to identify. The shop will have seating for around 40 inside as well as space on a back patio and benches in the front where new tables will be set up.
A temporary wall will divide the ice cream shop at the corner from the former store that continued along the Decatur Street side of the building. The store will be renovated over the winter and reopen next spring featuring locally made products.
“It will be more of a general store and less tourist and knicky knacky,” Jeremy Peifer said.
When the country store reopens next spring, the owners hope to also have expanded the outdoor patio, added a walk-up ice cream window in the back and put in a children’s play area.
“I think we were just excited to bring some new energy and ideas to keep it going and honor its history while making sure it remains a part of the community in Strasburg,” Jeremy Peifer said.
On the project the Peifers are joined by Tyler and Amber Martin and Brian and Lindsey Funk. The three couples are friends who live in Strasburg, Millersville and Willow Street and all own other investment properties in Strasburg Borough. They also all have their own memories of visiting the Strasburg Creamery and Country Store.
“The penny candy, the ice cream, the sense of community and history (and even that cool little water fountain that was just the right height for the smallest patrons!), made a trip to the Strasburg Creamery an exciting and memorable prospect,” Jenna Peifer wrote in a post on the creamery’s Facebook page.
Remaking a complex
Owning the Strasburg Village Inn was the initial draw for the new owners, who also own and operate other motels or short-term rentals.
“We know what we’re doing there; we can figure the rest out,” said Jeremy Peifer.
The Peifers and the Martins are among the partners in The Carriage House, a 20-room motel in Strasburg. The Funks are partners in The Strasburg Extended Stay near Sight & Sound Theatres.
While the new owners will operate the inn and oversee the ice cream shop through a general manager they have hired, they’ll be leasing the former bakery to Rob DeJessa, owner of a Robino’s 717 food truck.
By the end of the year, DeJessa said he hopes to open Robino’s Sandwich Shop in the building behind the ice cream shop. DeJessa said he plans to sell made-to-order breakfast and lunch sandwiches at what he describes as “a full-scale deli.” While preparing for the sandwich shop, DeJessa will begin regularly parking his food truck next to a rear patio on the property.
A building next to the soon-to-be sandwich shop has three apartments on the second floor and recently housed a winery on the first floor. The partners say they haven’t yet decided what should go into that building.
As they develop their plans, the partners are aware that their decisions will likely face more scrutiny from residents who have their own fond memories of the Strasburg Creamery.
“There’s a little more weight or pressure to do it well when you’re trying to serve the community as well as the tourism that’s going to come no matter what,” said Tyler Martin. “You’re in the eye a little more.”
One of the visible outside changes will be new black, white and blue paint for the columns and trim around the large windows on the main entrance on the square.
“The green and red just had to go. It had its time,” Ben Funk said.
History of a landmark
The oldest part of the building that houses the Strasburg Creamery dates to 1788. The historic buildings at the site have had many uses over the years, including a tavern, post office, general store and pharmacy. The Strasburg Creamery opened at its current spot in 1984.
Before it was The Strasburg Creamery, the business at the corner was Messner’s General Store, which was started by John J. Messner in 1909 and then operated by members of the Messner family until 1965. Albert Messner, the son of the store’s founder, helped run the business for nearly 30 years and was also mayor of Strasburg from 1962 until 1971.
The Strasburg Creamery has had several owners over the years and has at times made ice cream as well as fudge on site. In the back corner of the store, there once was a large beehive visible behind a glass partition.
“They would fly through the bee hole and come in there and make their hive in here. And they’d have access to outside. So, people would come back here and watch the bees,” Jeremy Peifer said.
The tube that allowed the bees to get into the partition is still visible and the new owners delighted at the idea of reviving the curiosity that they each found so memorable as youngsters.
“Kids would love it,” Martin said.
The Strasburg Creamery, as well as the Strasburg Inn, closed in October but had been slated to reopen in the spring. The businesses were last operated by children of Nick and Donna Whiteford, a couple from Delta who bought the business in 2009 after operating construction-related businesses in Maryland. Nick Whiteford died in February 2023 and Donna Whiteford died in May 2024.
When the property and businesses were offered for sale, it caused some concern about the possible end of a longtime Strasburg tradition.
“We considered the weight of taking on such a project, but as murmurs began that the creamery could be turned into something altogether different, we decided to put in an offer,” Jenna Peifer wrote in her Facebook post.
One Strasburg resident thrilled about the new owners is Steve Echternach, Strasburg’s longtime police chief and current borough manager.
“When they put it up for sale, I was hopeful it would be someone local,” Echternach said. “I’m excited for the borough for the opportunity to expand and kind of have a rebirth of our downtown business district.”
Echternach said he is grateful for some new, enthusiastic owners who have big plans for the businesses that have long been an anchor in town. He said having thriving business once again surrounding a historic ice cream shop can bring more foot traffic to the square, helping all the business in town.
“We’re never going to be Lititz. We’re never going to be Intercourse, but we can be Strasburg and we can do Strasburg well,” he said.
