Lemonade contest stirs up awareness
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent August 6, 2012 2:20PM
Olivia Kehle, 6, of Porter, Ind., samples lemonade at her own stand, Super Spies Lemonade Stand, during the Best Tasting Lemonade and Lemonade Stand Contest. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media
Lemonade for sale!
Super Spies, winner of the people’s choice award for best lemonade stand, will offer up lemonade during an Aug. 8 concert in Hawthorne Park.
The people’s choice winner for best lemonade, Edward’s Very Berry Lemonade, will be for sale in front of the Porter County Museum during Valparaiso’s Popcorn Fest on Sept. 8.
World’s Best Dad, which received the judges’ top honors for both the stand and the lemonade, will sell lemonade during a movie night at Hawthorne Park; the date hasn’t been set.
For more information on Prevent Child Abuse Porter County, go to www.pcapc.org, or call 531-9012.
To report child abuse, call (800) 800-5556.
Updated: September 8, 2012 6:10AM
Max Good knows what he likes in his lemonade, and he knew what he was looking for when he stopped by Hawthorne Park in Porter on a recent Saturday to sample the offerings in a first-ever Best Tasting Lemonade and Lemonade Stand Contest, sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse Porter County.
Max, 6, who lives in Liberty Township, tried a small paper cup of lemonade offered by the World’s Best Dad stand.
“I liked it because it was sour,” he said, returning to a yellow lollipop to cleanse his palate before moving on to his final selection.
The July 28 event drew six contestants, and offered both people’s choice and judged winners. Though parents could help out, kids had to be involved in some way.
“We don’t care if it’s an infant, because an infant can put a handprint on the stand,” said Beni Miller, a volunteer with PCAPC, who organized the contest.
She hopes it grows each year, and with it, awareness about PCAPC’s mission, preventing child abuse in all its forms in the county.
The judging wasn’t easy and offered some tough choices, said Kim Morganelli, owner of Hot Diggity Dawg in Chesterton.
“We were looking for the freshness in the lemonade and the fact that the children made it, and with the stands, the kids had to have a hand in it,” she said. “The biggest problem was, this one is good, and this one is good, and this stand is so cute.”
At the World’s Best Dad stand, Josh Martin, 7, and his sister Makayla, 9, poured their lemonade. The Chesterton family has had their lemonade stand for a few years, and freshened it up with a banner and drawings of lemons.
“We saw they were having a contest to help Prevent Child Abuse and said, well, we’ve got to be part of that,” dad Michael said.
