Mason City boy combines love of Elvis with lemonade business

A Mason City boy has paired an iconic American summertime business model with his love for the King of Rock and Roll, selling lemonade in full Elvis regalia.

Xander Cox, 11, set up his stand — “Lemonade by Elvis” — on the corner of Crescent Drive and Second Street Southwest, wearing an Elvis Presley jumpsuit, cape, and gold sunglasses this week.

With the King of Rock and Roll playing on a speaker, Xander Cox sings and dances to Elvis while selling lemonade Wednesday in Mason City.

Jacob Shafer, Globe Gazette

With Presley’s music playing on a speaker, Xander pulled off iconic Elvis dance moves, sang to passing cars, and imitated Elvis’ “thank you very much” with each sale of regular and pink lemonade. 

Though the connection between Elvis and lemonade isn’t as strong as, say,  peanut butter and banana sandwiches, for Xander it makes complete sense. 

“Well, I was just bored, and I’m a humongous fan of Elvis,” Xander said. “I thought, ‘Well, I could make money off it,’ and my dream is actually to become an Elvis impersonator so I’m just getting some practice at it.”

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Xander was selling lemonade and entertaining traffic street-side for about an hour before the Globe Gazette talked to him. He said business was good, and he’s excited to keep it going. 

‘Lemonade by Elvis’ is the brainchild of 11-year-old Xander Cox, who loves Elvis and wanted to incorporate the King of Rock and Roll into his lemonade stand. 

Jacob Shafer, Globe Gazette

“I’m not sure what got him so hung up on Elvis,” Xander’s father, Tony Cox, said. “But he has just been a diehard Elvis fan ever since he first listened to him.”

Xander remembers the first time the Memphis star’s voice entered his life, crediting his grandmother for his love of Elvis. When she put some Elvis tunes on in the car after picking him up from school one day, Xander said, he was hooked on the King. 

“One day she played some of Elvis’ music and I started liking it,” Xander said. “Then I started listening to it over and over, and I even have a personal collection.”

Additionally, Tony said, Xander imitates Elvis at his school’s talent shows. 

“He loves it,” Tony said. “He’s got more collectable Elvis stuff than most collectors do. His whole room is decorated with it.”

Tony said dressing, singing, and dancing like Elvis was entirely his son’s idea. “He thought he’d get more sales.”

“I told him he was probably not going wrong with that one,” Tony Cox said. “He had the option to go to the pool today or sell lemonade dressed as Elvis, and he picked that.”

“Business has been good,” Xander Cox said about his lemonade stand “Lemonade by Elvis” on Wednesday in Mason City. 

Jacob Shafer, Globe Gazette

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