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The Graff family’s lemonade is straight out of a fairy tale.
Edible glitter, pink ice cubes, heart-shaped straws, a bubble machine and music make the experience more than just a run-of-the-mill lemonade stand.
Fairytale Lemonade opened this summer selling specialty lemonades crafted by the whole family.
Kayla and Mark Graff and their kids Tony, Leo and Emma began their journey into all things lemonade and fantasy to create what is now a mobile food trailer in front of their house at 1609 Elm St.
The family started out selling lemonade at a table at their house near the Rec Center, bringing in pool-goers on hot days. The plan was always to expand, so the family purchased a trailer last week on Facebook Marketplace. Saturday was the second time lemonade has been sold straight from the mobile trailer.
“We kind of pulled it out of nowhere and it came together. We did a lemonade stand and then we bought the flavors the next time and then everybody loved it. We had a lot of business,” Kayla said.
The whole family is invested in helping with the project. Kayla just finished business school because she’s always wanted to start her own business, specifically a food truck, so starting with lemonade seemed like the best option, she said.
Making sure it was unlike any other lemonade was a priority, though, Kayla said.
“We decided to make something different than a typical lemonade stand. You see a lot of standard lemonades, but ours is a fairy tale lemonade,” she said.
That’s where 5-year-old Emma came in. She’s dedicated to sporting a princess dress to add to the overall character of the magically-themed experience.
Emma recommends her favorite flavor, mermaid, which has purple and blue sparkles and a tropical citrus lemonade.
The experience is more than just about sharing the sparkly lemonade with the community, Kayla said. It’s also a way to show her kids that if they have a dream they want to reach, nothing should stand in their way.
Tony, 13 and Leo, 12, help squeeze lemons and help serve customers. Leo is also the graphic designer behind the cup’s logo sticker.
Kayla said it’s helped them see what it’s like to operate a business and be a part of the behind-the-scenes work.
So far, business has been good, especially with pool traffic and neighborhood walkers.
Right now, the menu has six specialty flavors: cotton candy, mermaid, dragon spit, trolls blood, love potion and peachy princess. They also have regular freshly squeezed lemonade or iced coffee. Speciality options are $4 and regular is $3.
The family has spent the last few weeks concocting the perfect recipes, and bringing out the most magical recipes possible, Kayla said. Mark has helped to get the trailer into working order with new wiring and said there is still work to be done, like new signage.
“We just started doing this. We are very new,” he said. “Hopefully, we will be going 100% by next summer.”
He said his favorite part has been seeing his daughter get to run around in her princess dress.
All their marketing has been through the Eudora bulletin Facebook group, as well as word-of-mouth around town, Kayla said.
The stand will be open for the remainder of the summer from around 1 to 7 p.m. Saturdays. They also plan to stay open in their driveway during the upcoming farmers markets at Village Green.
Next year, the plan is to bring the trailer to the Main Street Markets and continue to open at the farmers markets. Having hot drinks like cider is also an option for the fall. They also plan to have a magic sparkly kettle corn and cotton candy in the near future.
Eventually, Kayla wants to expand to having food, maybe tacos, she said.
More information about hours and new offerings can be found at their Facebook page. They accept Venmo, Paypal, tap credit cards and cash. Oh one sec
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
