Police Squash Children’s Lemonade Stand, Demand Permit
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OVERTOWN, Texas, June 11 (UPI) — Two Texas sisters looking to raise money with a lemonade stand came face to face with law enforcement officials Monday morning and were subsequently shut down.
According to the state’s food safety and permit laws, their stand — which sold lemonade for 50 cents and kettle corn for $1 — was illegal. Apparently, a “Peddler’s Permit” was required for the girls do freely do business roadside, and the lemonade was required by law to be refrigerated.
Just about an hour after opening for business and raking in $25, the girls had to close shop.
“We were trying to raise some money to take our dad to Splash Kingdom,” 8-year-old Andria Green explains to KLTV about their Father’s Day plans. She and her 7-year-old sister Zoey hoped to raise a little over $100 to pay for the tickets.
“We had kettle corn and lemonade. The lemonade was for 50 cents and the kettle corn was a dollar, but if you got both it was a dollar,” Zoey said.
The girls’ mother, Sandi, disagrees with the police’s decision to block the girls’ entrepreneurial spirits.
“I think that’s ridiculous. I think they’re 7 and 8 and they’re just trying to make money for their own cause,” she told the network. But the officers involved couldn’t overlook violations.
Police Chief Clyde Carter said although it was a lemonade stand, the girls were still required to apply for a permit. The city agreed to waive the $150 fee, but not much can be done about refrigeration laws.
“We have to follow by the state health guidelines,” Carter said.
The girls still hope to raise the right amount of cash just in time for Father’s Day, however, and will set up shop again Saturday — this time giving away the lemonade and asking for donations.
This isn’t the first time a children lemonade sellers faced some heat, stand was shut down in Illinois by the health department, but quickly reopened in early June.
