Five Hills queen wins at Best Tasting Lemonade Contest

Special to Leader-Press 

More than 30 different kinds of lemonade, 15 highly decorated stands and more than 25 eager youngsters ready to greet the judges at the Fort Hood Area Best Tasting Lemonade Contest at Harker Heights Community Park on Saturday. 
Copperas Cove Five Hills Ambassador Briana Liles she felt honored to be selected to come back to compete in the best tasting contest for a second year. 
“I was in it last year and did not place in any of the contest categories. It was my first year to have a stand and I did not know much all the different flavors and ways to serve it. I had my siblings join me this year and we came up with a plan,” Liles said. 
Liles and her brothers and sister decided they would mix two flavors, raspberry and peach, and use honey as a natural sweetener instead of sugar. They also wrote a musical rap about the cause, alopecia aerate, to which they will donate the proceeds from their sales next weekend at Lemonade Day.  
“Our song also included the flavors of our lemonade and how we made it, and my brothers and sisters and I all performed different parts,” Liles said. “My brother, Brayden, drummed the beat on the wood of the lemonade stand while my older brother, Austin, performed the verses of the rap and my baby sister and I were like the backup that emphasized on all the lines Austin said. It was so much fun and the judges said we did a great job. Everybody complimented us on our unique presentation and our lemonade which made it that much better.” 
Liles’ and her siblings’ preparation and hard work paid off when the judges awarded them the award for Best Presentation. Raising Cane’s Restaurant Manager Shaun Smith served as one of the judges. 
As judges, we were treated with so much more than just lemonade. Briana, whom won best presentation day accolades at the event had the whole family rapping about how their lemonade was made,” Smith said. 
Maria Reed of Moving with the Military also served as a judge.
“I was very impressed with Briana’s overall presentation of her lemonade. It was polished and professional. She was ready for business,” Reed said. “She was always smiling and enjoyed communicating her mission.”
The judges also gave high marks to the stands of Junior Miss Five Hills Hayley Sawyer and Little Mister Five Hills Landon Mariano.
“Haley’s stand drew me in. It was elegant and lovely just like her. Her playing of the violin added a regal experience to the taste-testing event,” Reed said. 
“I love how Landon incorporated his passion for Motocross Racing with his lemonade stand, Racer-ade. He even explained that he is donating to a charity that helps racers who were injured.”
Smith said his favorite part of Lemonade Day, sponsored nationally by Raising Cane’s, is seeing how children really learn to market their products.
“Hayley treated us with some awesome violin playing and Landon told us all about dirt bikes and why he chose his charity,” Smith said. “These kids put a lot of hard work and passion into their stands and their charities have a special place in their hearts.”
The locations of lemonade stands on May 4 and 5 are available at https://lemonadeday.org/fort-hood-area/stands-map.