In March, Project Happy Water kicked off its fundraising campaign to renovate and repaint the J.B. White’s water tower with an event at the 600 Broad Building that included an art auction and a reception.
On First Friday, however, the organization set up shop in front of Art on Broad as an old-fashioned lemonade stand, spreading the word about the cause and offering smiles and refreshments to downtown passersby.
“A group of us got together, pulled our resources together and started starting to put on Project heavy water to get it done,” said Ted Greenly, who founded the nonprofit with its originator, artist Leonard “Porkchop” Zimmerman Jr.
The project’s aim to restore and repaint the water tower with the happy robot logo, to painting on it—to “bring a smile to downtown Augusta”—is partly what gave Jennifer Sparling the idea of a lemonade stand as the group’s latest pop-up event.
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“I was stopping by Art on Broad, and found out they had lapel pins for sale,” said Sparling. “The image of the tower, and the fact that it was hot and sunny, got me thinking about lemonade.”
A friend of Zimmerman’s and a supporter of the project, Sparling spoke with Carmen Bindues, a board member at the Happy Water who works at Art on Broad, thinking that putting out a table with lemonade could gain attention, and drum up more support.
“Because all the little things add up,” she said.
Sparling and Greenly manned the Project Happy Water Pop-Up, keeping it simple and offering smiles, good cheer and plenty of merchandise for sale, including T-shirts, buttons, lapel pins and mugs with the happy robot logo; as well as fresh, homemade lemonade and frosted animal cookies, supplied by Art on Broad.
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“Throughout this entire project, they’ve been huge supporters of ours,” Greenly said about the Broad Street art seller, noting how instrumental it has been in spreading the word.
Pierce Legeion, vice president and spokesperson of Project Happy Water, says that the group had raised $300 Friday evening, totaling $20,000 raised since March; 20% of its $100,000 goal.
“I really wanted folks to feel like they could help make art history,” said Sparling. “Even with a little thing like lemonade.”
For more information about Project Happy Water, or to donate, visit www.projecthappywater.com.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
