Apex residents on Sunday were sharing a 'Boat Sober' message, one year after a 10-year-old girl was killed in a boat crash on Harris Lake.
Family and friends of Brooklyn Carroll set up the lemonade stand on Sunday to raise money to honor causes important to her. Carroll had previously set up a lemonade stand to raise money for the Harmony Rescue Animal Clinic. The clinic turned the $30 she raised into the Brooklyn Mae Pet Rescue Fund.
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"[She] was a special kid," said Anna Gerber, a family member of Caroll. "Always happy; always friends with everyone."
The proceeds went to the Brooklyn Mae Carroll Foundation, which was created after her death. In addition to providing scholarships to students looking to study veterinary medicine, the foundation wants to raise awareness of sober boating to help prevent future incidents of impaired boating.
"It's definitely to raise awareness about boating sober," said Anna Gerber, a family friend of Carroll. "People think about drinking and driving a car, but drinking and driving a boat is just as dangerous."
Carroll was killed on Aug. 2, 2025, when a boat crashed into her while she was swimming in the lake. Another woman, Jennifer Stehle, was severely injured and lost her leg in the crash.
A couple, Quinten Kight and Annemarie Flanigan, were both indicted on second-degree murder charges tied to the crash. During the initial court proceedings last year, prosecutors said investigators say they found 39 empty beer cans in Kight's boat.
Based on statements from several people, everyone on board, including Kight, was looking backward at the person being pulled, not forward. Kight was pulling a floater or raft of sorts. Nieman said there were multiple people on board, but did not specify exactly how many.
The Carroll family provided the following statement on Sunday:
Today is the one-year anniversary of our beloved Brooklyn being killed by a drunk boater.
On June 3, we would have celebrated Brooklyn's 11th birthday. This past Thursday, she would've started middle school. Instead of sharing these celebrations and life events with her, we continue to grieve Brooklyn's senseless death. Words cannot express how much we miss Brooklyn's laughter, her love of horses, and her sense of adventure.
Over the past several months, we have traveled throughout North Carolina and the country speaking at boating conferences, telling Brooklyn's story. For the rest of our lives, we will continue to advocate for safe and sober boating.
In an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of drunk boating, we established the Brooklyn Mae Carroll Foundation.
Kimm Cannon and Matt Carroll, parents of Brooklyn Carroll
In the long term, the Brooklyn Mae Carroll Foundation aims to put emergency safety kits on boat ramps across North Carolina. The kits would provide access to equipment, like tourniquets and personal protective equipment, to help swimmers and boaters in crisis while they wait for first responders.
Those at Sunday's lemonade stand hope that their efforts can keep the tradition and Carroll's legacy going for years to come.
"When my daughter was like, 'Can we do this again?' I was like, 'We can make this an annual thing," Gerber said.
As for the foundation, it has already given out scholarships to three high school students looking to become veterinarians.