Police shut down girls’ lemonade stand
MIDWAY, Ga. — Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn’t have a business license or the required permits.
Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn’t know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.
The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.
The girls needed a business license, peddler’s permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.
One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.
The girls are now doing chores and yard work to make money.
t’s the middle of summer, and we all know what that means: adorable kids learning the basics of capitalism by running lemonade stands. Among those basics: you need to lay down a few hundred bucks at City Hall before you even think about buying lemons and paper cups. Three Georgia girls thought they would earn money for a trip to the water park by selling lemonade in their neighborhood. They were successful…until the police chief happened to drive by, and shut them down for selling lemonade without business and food vendors’ licenses totaling $180.
This should sound familiar: last summer, an Oregon girl had her lemonade stand taken away for lack of a health permit, then was granted a reprieve. Officials in Georgia are apparently not so lenient.
“We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance,” the police chief told a reporter.
The girls are now doing household chores and yardwork to earn money for their water park trip. Maybe they can now play the Lemonade Stand Game online from the air-conditioned comfort of their homes to see what they’re missing out on.
