Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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June 1, 2011

Bluefield hits 90 degrees; Chamber readies for ‘earliest Lemonade Day’

KATE COIL Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — A new record has been set in the city of Bluefield with May 31, 2011 holding the title as the city’s earliest Lemonade Day.

According to Marc Meachum, president of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce, the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va., recorded the city hitting a maximum temperature of 90 degrees during the day, prompting the summer of 2011’s first lemonade serving of the year.

“This is the first time we are aware that temperatures have hit the 90-degree mark in May,” Meachum said. “Though we will be serving the lemonade on June 1, May will be the record-breaker since that is when the event actually occurred. This is our earliest Lemonade Day ever.”

Additionally, today will be the first Lemonade Day for 2011.

Meachum attributed the record-setting lemonade serving to one simple factor.

“It’s hot,” Meachum said. “It’s very hot outside lately. It appears to be unusually hot for the beginning of the summer. The past few days we’ve been in a unique situation with temperatures climbing in the upper 80s. Hopefully, this heat will help soak up all of the rain we had last week.”

Meachum said the chamber has been getting several calls since last weekend from anxious citizens wondering if lemonade was being served.

“They’ve been contacting us over the weekend, though we weren’t in the office yesterday because of the Memorial Day holiday,” Meachum said. “It got to 89 degrees yesterday. We had a bunch of calls Tuesday morning and afternoon of people asking if it was hot enough for lemonade yet.”

Meachum said the Lemonade Lassies are already getting ready for today’s serving. All of the lemonade served is provided through the Kwik Kafe Company, Inc.

Today’s record-breaking serving will go in the books with other Lemonade Day records. The latest day lemonade was served in Bluefield was on Sept. 14, 1998. The summer of 2007 holds the record for the most Lemonade Days in one year with 18. Last year also brought the record of Bluefield’s 200th Lemonade Day on July 9, 2010.

The Lemonade Day tradition began in 1939 as the brainchild of late Chamber of Commerce Director Edward H. “Eddie” Steele. The first cup of lemonade in Bluefield wasn’t actually served until 1941. Over the years, Bluefield has had 35 summers without any lemonade servings.

Lemonade Days have continued for 72 years, surviving World War II sugar shortages, protests by local clergy, controversy over what constitutes a Lemonade Day and even a strike by the Lemonade Lassies in 1952.

Lemonade will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at six locations: Chicory Square in downtown Bluefield, Graham Square in downtown Bluefield, Va., the Goodykoontz Drug Store in Bluefield, Kroger on Cumberland Road, Food City in Bluefield, Va., and the Bluefield, Va., Walmart.

— Contact Kate Coil at kcoil@bdtonline.com

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