Tomorrow evening the Dunwoody Preservation Trust is bringing four days of family fun to Brook Run Park.

Lemonade Days 2009 organizers are hoping — even with the struggling economy — to attract about 30,000 to the park and raise about $50,000 for the non-profit Dunwoody Preservation Trust.

“This is the kind of thing you want to do with a bad economy,” said Tom McGurk, Dunwoody Preservation Trust vice president of special events. “This will be a good, cheap way to keep a house full of kids busy.”

The four-day event kicks off Thursday at 5 p.m. and features 18 carnival rides, food and art vendors, face painting, pony rides and skateboarding exhibitions.

While admission to Lemonade Days if free, activities come with minimal fees. McGuirk said most activities only cost a “couple of dollars,” pony rides $5 and all-you-can-ride carnival passes for $20.

All proceeds benefit the preservation trust, which works to maintain historic properties around Dunwoody, including the Dunwoody Farm House on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.

The event has its origins in the preservation trust’s “Replant Dunwoody Forest” campaign in 1998 as a response to the tornado that felled several trees in the area.

“The name comes from the saying, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,’” said Dunwoody Preservation Trust President Kathy Florence.

Brook Run Park is at 4770 North Peachtree Road in Dunwoody. Hours for the event are: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., April 16; 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., April 17; 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., April 18; and noon to 6 p.m., April 19.