Which circus worker is credited in an 1857 origin story for pink lemonade?

Pete Conklin is the circus worker credited in an 1857 origin story for pink lemonade.

The story says Conklin was selling lemonade with a circus in 1857 when he ran out of ordinary water. He reportedly used water stained pink after a performer had rinsed pink tights in it, then sold the resulting drink as “strawberry lemonade.” The unusual colour supposedly made the beverage a hit and helped sales double.

This is a colourful origin story, not a proven laboratory-style account of invention. It was associated with circus memoirs and later retellings, including George Conklin’s 1921 book The Ways of the Circus. Another popular tale credits circus worker Henry E. Allott with dropping red cinnamon candies into lemonade, so historians and food writers do not treat Pete Conklin’s story as certain.

Modern pink lemonade is usually coloured with fruit juice, grenadine or food colouring rather than clothing dye. The drink itself is still ordinary lemonade at its core: lemon juice, water and a sweetener. The pink colour changes its appearance and sometimes its flavour, but not the basic lemonade formula.