Bangor firefighters drop by 4-year-old’s lemonade stand

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - For many, childhood isn’t complete without a lemonade stand.

After seeing a video of some other kids, 4-year-old Gabby Ketchen wanted to try it out herself.

“She watches YouTube a lot and then these kids that she watches on there, I don’t even know their names, but they did a pretend lemonade stand with their dolls and all of a sudden she came out and said she wanted to put a lemonade stand up,” said Daniel Ketchen, Gabby’s dad.

With help from her parents, Gabby set up shop on Essex Street in Bangor.

At first, the cars were just driving by and waving, so her mom, Kimberly took to Facebook.

The post was shared several times and in no time the customers and support came rolling in.

“There’s a community here you just have to find a way to reach out to them. If you can reach out to them, they are here, it’s awesome to know that,” Daniel said.

Even the Bangor Fire Department paid Gabby a visit.

“We got a call from a concerned neighbor that Gabby wasn’t getting enough business and thought it would really cheer her up if we could come by. We were more than happy to come get some lemonade, we were on our training and swung in and got refreshed and then did the rest of our day,” said Jeremiah Titus, Bangor firefighter.

Her parents say it was great to see her get excited and have something to do outside.

“I want to do it every summer,” Gabby said.

Daniel says they wanted her to have fun but also learn to put in a good day’s work.

“We had to keep teaching her that it’s not always going to be good but you have to keep trying, and she did, she kept pushing and eventually people started coming,” Daniel said.

After all was said and done, Gabby put her money to good use: buying a McDonald’s Happy Meal and a pizza for dinner.

“Everybody loves seeing a kid smile and making a kid’s day. We’re just really excited that we got to help spread the word that she was here,” Titus said.

If you missed her this weekend, Gabby says she wants to do more lemonade stands throughout the summer.

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