There's a new lemonade stand in town. It's called called Bad Bet's Lemonade.

The stand opened on June 21. The proprietors are Natalie and Shawn Gamage. Natalie is 9 and Shawn is 7.

Their business savvy was no doubt inherited from their grandmother, Bet Finocchiaro, whose fried fish joint, Bet’s Fish Fry, just happens to be right next door, in Boothbay Center. Their other grandmother, Marsha Gamage, was there helping out on their first day.

There had been 25 customers by noon. Three of them were from Lithuania and Turkey. They’re here for the summer, working at the Howard House on Townsend Avenue. They said they were driving by and one of them said, “Oh, just like an American movie — they're selling lemonade!” They turned around and went back.

Of course, being Bet's grandchildren, they couldn't have settled for an ordinary lemonade stand — you know, an old wobbly card table with a little hand-scribbled sign. No, they have a brand new ruggedly built, if small, building to sell their beverage from. It looks like a younger twin to Bet's stand. Both were built by her husband, Tony.

“I'd be afraid not to buy from those two,” Bet's sister, Margaret Salt Mclellan, said. “They’re a couple of rigs. ‘Junior’ (Shawn) is something else — a riot. She's the strong silent type, but intelligently witty.”

Sounds like business savvy isn't the only trait they inherited from their grandmother (and great aunt).

On their first day the kids said they'd close for the day when they ran out of lemonade. There was one large jug of it on the counter. They may find they're going to have to start making more.

With the new country club right around the corner, and their grandmother Bet's famous fried haddock stand next door, the chances of making their lemonade stand a success are pretty good. The lemonade is good and tart, cold, and it goes great with fried haddock. And it’s only a buck a glass.