Chris Clegg
Pearl Lorentzen
South Peace News
If you saw a lemonade stand in High Prairie, Slave Lake or Canyon Creek on June 15, there was a good chance that the kids were taking part in Lemonade Day.
It was the sixth annual event for Slave Lake. Canyon Creek has had them before, and a first for High Prairie.
Lemonade Day is a program in Canada and the U.S. that teaches kids how to start and run a business using a lemonade stand as an example.
Either in their classroom or in an open community event, kids take part in Lemonade University ahead of time. Then on June 15, they hold lemonade stands. For the Lesser Slave Lake region, the event was organized by Community Futures Lesser Slave Lake.
In total, local kids registered 21 stands. Slave Lake had 15 lemonade stands, High Prairie had five stands and Canyon Creek one.
Paydon Williscroft, 9, set up a stand in downtown High Prairie. As part of the program, a donation must be made. Williscroft plans to donate a portion of his sales to Pleasantview Lodge.
Emily Fleming, 10, set up her stand across the street from town office. She invited her “business associate” and best friend Melody Young to join her. She is donating to 4-H and plans to run a stand all summer.
“It just sounded fun,” says Young as her reason for taking part.
“It’s a good way to get off technology (computers),” she added.
Brothers Gabriel Cunningham, 13, and Michael Cunningham, 10, held Lemon 51 at Freson Bros.
“We do stuff together all the time,” says Michael.
“We are donating to In the Woods Animal Shelter. Fifty cents per cup sold.”
Michael says it was a good day except for the weather. The two won an award for Area Entrepreneur-of-the-Year in addition to learning about running a business.
“Overhead is a lot of money,” says Gabriel.
Elias Krahn, 8, ran his Jupiter Juice stand at POPS Home Hardware.
“I wanted to make money,” he says. “It sounded like a fun thing to do.”
He plans on donating to a family in need.
“Because someone that is three years old has cancer (leukemia),” he says.
“I want to support them.”
“This is the first time bringing Lemonade Day to High Prairie,” says Joy McGregor, one of the Lemonade Day organizers.
“Lemonade University was taught in some classrooms and at Lemonade Day University in the community. It was a great day for everyone involved. Businesses and community members supported the stands by having them in front of various locations and purchasing lemonade. We look forward to having more stands next year,” she adds.
Volunteer judges went around and tasted all of the lemonade and talked to the kids. They gave out three awards including Best Stand, Best Entrepreneur, and Best Tasting. In High Prairie, Gabriel and Michael Cunning won Best Entrepreneur with their stand Lemon 51. Emily Fleming won Best Tasting at her stand Lemon Life. Paydon Williscroft won Best Stand with Galaxy of the Lemons.
High Prairie judges were Angie Halverson, Adrian Wong, and Tammy Henkel.
