THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140353
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
If you want to help save the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, drink up.
A Charlotte-based beverage company has brewed a sweet way to raise money for the country's tallest brick beacon.
Hatteras Lighthouse Lemonade is a non-carbonated, natural-ingredient fruit drink that arrived at 30 Albemarle-area stores this month. Its label features the candy-striped tower, a surf fisherman and a tiny trawler boat beneath a looming yellow lemon. Glass, 16-ounce bottles sell for 89 cents each at Seamark Foods on the Outer Banks.
``We manufacture natural fruit drinks for special causes. Hatteras Lighthouse Lemonade is actually our fifth flavor,'' said Rick Mullin, president of Earth Ade Beverages Inc. At least 2.5 percent of the proceeds from all lemonade sales will be donated to a special fund to save the historic tower from encroaching tides, he said.
For every 12 bottles of Hatteras Lighthouse Lemonade sold, an estimated 32 cents will be sent to a trust fund administered by the National Park Foundation, earmarked for saving the Outer Banks beacon.
``We wanted one of our drinks to benefit something in our region,'' Mullin said. ``The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a recognizable symbol of North Carolina's cultural heritage. We're trying to use our product to promote public awareness of the problem - and provide the National Park Service with funds to save the lighthouse.''
Built on Buxton's beach in 1870, the black-and-white beacon rises 208 feet tall and contains 268 spiraling stairs. Although the building was erected almost a quarter-mile from the Atlantic, powerful ocean currents and annual storms have eaten away the land around the lighthouse's wide base. Less than 120 feet of sand now separates the structure from the sea.
Geologists say about 14 1/2 feet of sand wash away from around the lighthouse each year. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended that the National Park Service, which owns the beacon, move it a half-mile inland by1994. But federal officials say there's no money for the move, which would cost $12 million.
``We've been finding it very difficult to secure congressional funding to save the lighthouse,'' National Park Service Superintendent Russ Berry said this week from his Roanoke Island office. ``We thought this lemonade project would be a good way to resume private fund raising efforts that haven't been worked on since the mid-1980s. About $200,000 has been donated to the effort by individuals so far.
``But we need $1.2 million just to get a new environmental assessment of the lighthouse,'' Berry said. ``It's in a very precarious position at this time. Most likely, that lighthouse would not withstand the direct hit of a Category 4 storm.''
Previous National Park Service policies have said that when the danger of losing the lighthouse to a storm becomes greater than the danger of moving it, plans to slide the tower away from the waves will be put into place.
On Tuesday, Berry said that time has come.
``Right now, it is definitely more dangerous to let it sit where it is than to try to move it,'' said the superintendent. ``Visitation at that site is increasing 10 to 12 percent each year. A lot of people want to see that structure saved.''
Mullin said he could not estimate how much revenue the lighthouse lemonade might generate for Cape Hatteras' beacon fund. Since Earth Ade Beverages was formed in 1991, he said, the four original flavors have sold well in outlets from Alaska to the Florida Keys. The company has donated about $3,000 so far, he said, to nonprofit conservation groups.
Sales of Mango Sunrise support rainforest preservation. Cherry Howler proceeds benefit the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance for canyonland conservation. Blueberry Borealis profits go to the Trustees for Alaska, an environmental law firm. And Cuda-Cay Lime helps fund the Reef Relief group that protects coral reefs off the south Florida coast.
``Sales have been going real good,'' Seamark Foods Produce Manager Rick Farmer said Wednesday from his Nags Head grocery store, where dozens of cases of lighthouse lemonade are stacked between champagne and spring onions.
``I guess we've sold about 120 bottles here already. And our Kitty Hawk store's sold about 50,'' Farmer said. ``We've got all five flavors Earth Ade makes. But the lemonade is definitely selling best around here.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
Staff
Hatteras Lighthouse Lemonade is made by Earth Ade Beverages, for
whom Catherine Anne Page is a marketing representative. Earth Ade
makes five drinks, with some proceeds of each to benefit a
particular environmental cause.
HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE LEMONADE
From 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Saturday, City Beverage distributors
and Earth Ade Beverages will offer free samples of Hatteras
Lighthouse Lemonade at the base of the Buxton beacon. At least 2.5
percent of proceeds from all sales of the new lemonade will go into
a fund to help save the 125-year-old tower from encroaching tides.
The natural-ingredient lemonade sells for 89 cents per bottle at
Seamark Foods on the Outer Banks.
The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the nation's tallest. Its
208-foot tower is open daily for free tours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A museum and bookstore are at the nearby keeper's quarters.
For more information about:
The lighthouse, call the National Park Service at (919)
995-4474.
Efforts to move the lighthouse, write the Move the Cape Hatteras
Lighthouse committee at P.O. Box 835, 109 Brady Court, Cary, N.C.
27511. Or contact the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society at 210 Gallery
Row, Nags Head, N.C. 27959, (919) 441-4232.
Keeping the lighthouse where it is, contact Save the Lighthouse
Committee, P.O. Box 128, Linville, N.C. 28646.
To donate money to the Lighthouse Rescue Fund, sponsored by Earth
Ade Beverages and the National Park Foundation, send a check or
money order to 1101 17th St., N.W., Suite 1102, Washington, D.C.
20036.
by CNB