OCEAN CITY — There have been thousands of Alex’s Lemonade Stands across the country and around the world to raise money for pediatric cancer research since 2000, when the very first was founded by 4-year-old Alex Scott.
There may never have been one like this.
On Friday morning, a crew of family and friends built a lemonade stand sandcastle and began serving people on the 12th Street beach, taking donations to help the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
The sandcastle lemonade stand was the brainchild of Joey Dickerson, 9, of Williamstown. Chief engineer of construction was David Coyle, also of Williamstown.
“Joey is the mastermind who said he wanted to build a lemonade stand this year. And then it blew up into let’s build an Alex’s Lemonade Stand out of sand,” Coyle said.
“I’ve been building sandcastles for over 23 years with my own son, who’s here today. Now I build them with my grandson. I’ve grown to love the art of sandcastle building and the people who do it,” he explained. “Joey’s family vacations with my sister once a year. It started a tradition that I build a sandcastle with them, and it has progressed to what it is today.”
Last year they built a sand replicate of Citizen’s Bank Park.
So, why here?
“We love Ocean City. We love the Ocean City beach, the family atmosphere and now we love doing it for a cause,” Coyle said.
Joey said Coyle asked him what type of sandcastle he wanted to make “and then our idea grew into Alex’s Lemonade Stand.”
The construction wasn’t easy.
“It’s actually kind of one of the hardest (sandcastles) for Uncle David,” Joey said.
Around noon Friday, about an hour before high tide, the surf was lapping at a sand berm protecting the lemonade stand. It wasn’t like that when they began.
“We had to haul a lot of water. It was dead low tide when we got here,” Coyle said. “That’s why I have that whole team of dads and the moms who all helped and the kids helped to haul the water to get a base strong enough to hold the lemonade stand.
“The base probably weighs a thousand pounds. You need a real strong base. I needed everyone to get the water to build something strong enough for the kids to set things on,” he added.
When asked how he hauled and contributed, Joey laughed and pointed to part of the structure.
“This was made by me and my friends. Basically a lot of sand,” he said.
Was it fun? “Of course it is,” Joey said. “The first is that whatever you make, people can admire it. And then second, the different creations you make inspire other people.”
Lily Adkins, 16, of Haddon Township, was the ambassador for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The girl who survived an ependymoma brain cancer as a 14-month-old was impressed.
“It’s in honor of Alex’s. I came because they needed someone and I always like helping other kids,” Lily said. (“She is the featured hero,” Coyle said.)
“I can’t really remember much of (the cancer treatments) and I still have balance issues sometimes and when I run I get hip pain,” Lily said, “but it’s just a part of my life now. It’s not a big deal when there’s so much that could be happening right now.”
She is starting her junior year at Haddon Township High School, where she dances and is part of the crew team.
The sandcastle, she said, “is really fun. I never thought you could make a lemonade stand out of sand. I like helping kids and I like that other people like helping kids.”
“I think it’s amazing,” her mother, Trish Adkins, said of the stand as little kids kept coming up to get lemonade.
“We’ve been involved with Alex’s Lemonade Stand pretty much since Lily was diagnosed,” she said. Adkins said she is especially impressed when they get support from people who have not experienced childhood cancer in their families. When they support the foundation, “it’s so amazing because childhood cancer is so underfunded. I think things like this that are wild and crazy just bring awareness to such an important cause with such a need for research.”
Adkins works as a writer for the foundation, which is where her family met Coyle.
“To my knowledge, there has never been a sandcastle built for Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” she said. “This is the first lemonade stand made out of sand. It is amazing.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff