8-year-old South Philly girl funds Taylor Swift concert ticket with lemonade stand

CENTER CITY - A young Taylor Swift fan is teaching everyone a lesson in that hard work pays off. She really wanted to go see Taylor Swift in concert, but those tickets are pricey. So, she set out on a mission to earn that money for herself.

"Here sister. What is this? Open It," 8-year-old Elena Flores and her little brother exchanged words as she opened a box with her wish fulfilled inside.

If you cannot tell by the music coming from her boombox in the background it has to do with Taylor Swift.

"Guess what? What? We are going to London tomorrow!" said Elena’s mom Chelsea. Her parents surprised her with tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert in London Friday.

"I'm so happy," said Elena. The surprise is extra special because you will notice Elena is standing in front of a lemonade stand.

"All I wanted was to go to her concert, so I had this idea made up," she said.

Elena opened her stand weeks ago. Most days she sold lemonade at Rittenhouse Square, another time outside a Phillies game and at a park at 2nd and Reed in her neighborhood in South Philly. She spent days belting out Taylor tunes and greeting people passing by, until her parents say she raised over $3,000.

"A few times a week she would come out after camp, when she was done camp and come work out here for two or three hours a day," said Chelsea.

"It's crazy how dedicated she was," said her dad, William Flores.

Elena displayed the contents of the surprise box. Inside were the tickets, other Taylor Swift items for her trip and, of course, her passport which has a picture of her Mum-mum attached to it.

"My mom suddenly passed away two days ago and the day we were supposed to surprise her is the day she passed. So, we re-thought this whole trip, but then Elena worked so hard for this and my mom rooted her on every single day," said Chelsea.

Elena says she learned a huge lesson from this experience.

"Don't give up," she said.

The family will fly to London Wednesday to see Taylor Friday at Wembley Stadium. They are also going to Paris for a few days. Her parents got the ticket's last week.