One thing the joint-committee coordinating the 37th Annual Palm Sunday Tour of Homes knows is that the Southwest Louisiana and Convention Bureau  (CVB) knows what it is doing!  As a result, when CVB representative Tico Soto  sent an e-mail to the event chair asking "what about a lemonade stand?" an e-mail was immediately sent out to the Margaret Place community. 

Within hours,  a Charlie Brown type lemonade stand was in the works and the cookie making and staffing began! (You gotta love the spirit of Margaret Place!) And, the commonality between Benedictine Monks and Margaret Place was born!

Obviously, we're not talking about a folding table with a put-together-at-the-last-minute-poster! Which leads us to "What does Margaret Place and the Benedictine Monks have in common?" Let's examine the plans MPHD resident and Episcopalian Priest Jim Lukenhoff's has for the Margaret Place Lemonade Stand along with Aimee McClain's staffing and lemonade-and-cooking plans.

For inspiration, Father Lukenhoff called on the Charlie Brown comic strip by Charles Shultz. The rest came easy! The cedar he used for the stand came from a benedictan monastary in Subiaco, Arkansas (just East of Fort Smith). The monks have a sawmill there and sold him about a 100' of cedar for $15.00.  "Jim gave them a $100 and told the monk to use the difference to get something to drink.  The monk accepting his generosity replied, "Well, I think I'll get me some whisky."  For the interesting scoop regarding the proper spelling: 'whisky' VS 'whiskey" consult this source.

Other than the cedar based stand courtesy of Jim and the monks, and two purchased support posts, the rest of the materials came from Margaret Place. "There is no such thing as scrap" states Father Jim as he points out that practically everything in the stand came from existing materials, including a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood courtesy of the Lobdell's, long-time Margaret Place property owners.

These photos show what appears to be an effortless manner to build a classic lemonade stand, courtesy of Father Jim Lukenhoff:

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As for the lemonade and cookies portion!  Just down Griffith Street is home to Aimee McLain who had previously committted to serve the entire day for Palm Sunday. "Whatever I can do.' was her message.  As the parent of 3 kids, it was a no-brainer to get specific regarding the lemonade stand.  Aimee responded post-haste with an absolute "got you covered" type e-mail.  This was followed by multiple responses from CHPS and MPHd cookie-makers.