Heartwarming footage captures a little girl running into the arms of a local pretzel vendor outside her New York City preschool after she returned from vacation.
The child’s mom, Tina Mangan, told The Post on Sunday that she was uneasy at first watching 4-year-old daughter Madison recently sprinting down the sidewalk along busy Canal Street in Manhattan after school — until she saw the little girl head straight into the arms of the pretzel-cart seller, a sweet scene captured in a TikTok video that has gone viral since the mother posted it last week.
“I was like nervous at first because she was running, and it’s like on the busiest street ever,” Mangan said. Then “he just put his arms out … and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ And I pulled out my phone so quick.
“I just remember hitting the zoom, and that’s when I saw him bend down to give her a hug,” the mom said.
Mangan said the pretzel-cart owner has watched Madison and her younger daughter Michaela, who is turning 1 this week, grow up while parking his cart directly across the street from their preschool.
“Every time it’s a nice day when the spring season approaches, Madison gets so excited and is like, ‘Do you think the pretzel guy is going to be there?’ And I’m like, ‘I hope so!’ ” the mom said.
“We live in SoHo, just around the corner, and it’s just like a big surprise around the corner if he’s there or not,” Mangan added.
“He’s honestly just the sweetest, kindest man and is always the first one to give you a cold bottle of water for free on a hot day and always stops to give a high-five. She loves giving him a high-five like that,” she said of her 4-year-old.
The video was posted by Mangan under her handle BasicallySoho, an account for her luxury baby sleepwear brand, and quickly gained over 2 million views this weekend.
“The sweetest pretzel man: he parks his cart outside of my daughter’s school and she loves giving him high fives when she walks by,” she wrote in the caption of the video.
“She was on vacation for a week and missed him. When I picked her up from school today, she literally ran into his arms,” the mom added.
Mangan declined to share the vendor’s name with The Post, saying she hadn’t seen him since the video went viral over the weekend and wanted to connect with him about his newfound local stardom first.
Her sweet post received hundreds of comments from fellow New Yorkers, many expressing that they also share a special bond with their neighborhood food stand vendor.
“I got emotional when I had to say goodbye to my coffee cart man when I moved from NYC. They become stitches in the fabric of your daily life,” one person wrote.
Another chimed in, “This is exactly how I think New York kids grow up. Favorite vendor since childhood, same bodega spot so cute.”
For Mangan, she’s “just happy to share the happiness and humanity in New York City,” she said.
It shows “it’s OK to raise kids in New York City,” she added. “There’s kind people all around.”
