Dr. Seuss-themed Lemonade Day stand to be held in front of Cove Leader-Press

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press 

Five Hills Junior Ambassador Maddox Tobias will be holding his Lemonade Day lemonade stand at the Leader-Press parking lot on Lemonade Day weekend.

Set for the weekend of May 1-2, Lemonade Day weekend is when young entrepreneurs across the country will be setting up their lemonade stands to earn money and learn important skills. 

In Copperas Cove, Maddox’s lemonade stand will be held in the parking lot of Preferred Plaza, which houses the Copperas Cove Leader-Press and other businesses, at 2210 E. Business 190. 

His stand will be Dr. Seuss themed and will be called “Dr. Seuss on the Loose Lemonade”.  There will be “Hop on Pop” popcorn and rice crispy treats shaped like fish for “1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” There will be two flavors of lemonade: Lorax Lemonade and Pink Ink Link Drink (strawberry lemonade). 

Maddox and his mom, Jillian, chose the Dr. Seuss theme because of the author’s impact on literacy in children, which is Maddox’s platform of service. 

As Miniature Mister Five Hills last year and as the Junior Ambassador this year, Maddox is responsible for maintaining the Free Little Libraries at the different CCISD campuses and throughout town. 

Money raised from his lemonade stand will go towards promoting literacy by helping purchase books for foster children. 

Fellow titleholder Little Miss Five Hills Braelyn Liles is putting together care packages for foster children as part of her platform of service. Maddox will be assisting Liles mission by providing books for the foster children. 

“We want to help support her project, and she’s also supporting our project,” Maddox said. “There’s also books for helping kids to read more.” 

Jillian Tobias said that they chose the books and Free Little Libraries as Maddox’s platform because of how important literacy is, especially with children. 

“For me, it’s always been a focal point, even before him, because I struggled through school, at least in early grade school, with reading and comprehension, so even before he was born, I was like, ‘When I have a kid, we’re going to focus on this and make sure he values reading and books,’ and it’s already paid off,” Jillian said. “He already reads beginner reader books and everything.”

Maddox and his parents read every night and try to read more during the day. His favorite series now is the “Notebook of Doom” series. 

“I love reading!” Tobias said. “That’s like my thing.” 

Last year, Tobias did not have his own lemonade stand. He was originally a runner-up but was crowned in July 2020. As a newly crowned titleholder then, he joined his fellow royalty in visiting the different lemonade stands and got to taste each delicious drink as he introduced himself to his royalty family. 

This year, Tobias is excited to have his own lemonade stand and has gone to the different Lemonade Day events like the Build a Stand workshop held last weekend at Heights Lumber and the virtual events such as Lemonade U. 

Jillian said that at first she was unaware of how big Lemonade Day is across the country. After learning all that it entails, she was happy to have Maddox participate. 

“It’s really neat and supporting young entrepreneurs- I’m definitely in favor of that,” Jillian said. 

On May 1 and 2, Maddox will set up his stand in the parking lot, and he hopes to catch customers as they drive by. 

His stand will be painted red and blue to go with the Dr. Seuss theme, matching the characters Thing 1 and Thing 2. Maddox will wear a hat like Cat in the Hat, while his parents dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2. 

His favorite Dr. Seuss books include “1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” and “The Nose Book.” He said he loves that Dr. Seuss’ books are full of rhyming. 

“I’m a rhyming master,” Tobias added. 

His slogan for his lemonade stand is something right out of Dr. Seuss book: “Drink here, drink there, drink lemonade everywhere.” 

Maddox will also be selling raffle tickets for $1 per ticket or 15 tickets for $10. Prizes will include gift cards and other items. 

Maddox also welcomes donations, especially book donations for school aged readers. Donated books will be accepted at his lemonade stand, and one book donation will result in two raffle tickets.

Maddox’s lemonade stand will be open May 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. As of press time, there are nine lemonade stands on the map for the Copperas Cove, Killeen, Fort Hood area. 

For more information on Lemonade Day, visit https://lemonadeday.org/fort-hood-area.