In the War on Lemonade Stands, There Exists an Unlikely Hero: Country Time Lawyers

It’s that time of the year again: Hot. Sunny. Kids are out of school. Perfect time for a refreshing lemonade from a stand three fourth-graders constructed with paper, a marker, and a gigantic container of Country Time lemonade mom bought from Costco. All seems perfect except for one thing: those pesky bureaucrats who keep citing kids for not having licenses, levying fines or even shutting down lemonade stands altogether. Fortunately, in the bizarre war on lemonade stands, there exists an unlikely hero: Country Time lemonade’s own legal team, dubbed “Legal-Ade.” (Their motto: When life gives you arcane laws, make lemonade,” seems apropos if not unusually clever for lawyers.)

Kids who just want to have fun and earn a little cash for standing in the sun and looking cute while offering overpriced (sometimes lukewarm) lemonade have been actually running into red tape for doing just that. Autumn Thomasson is a 5-year-old California girl was cited for not having a license for her lemonade stand; in Iowa a town shut down 4-year-old Abigail Krstinger’s lemonade stand because she didn’t have a license; and in Georgia, police shut down a stand run by three girls who were just trying to make extra money for some summer fun. The fact that a trend of shutting down pop-up lemonade stands even exists is as absurd as it is tragic: What does any local bureaucrat have to gain? Not only that but it legitimately works against a child’s natural spirit of adventure, risk, and entrepreneurialism.

While even mainstream media started to feel bad for these poor kids, profiling their battles—lemonade-drinking Davids in a world of fun-spoiling Goliaths—over time the kids themselves have earned an unlikely friend: lawyers. In a hilarious video, Country Time revealed that the company felt so exasperated for these kids that they

https://www.facebook.com/countrytime/videos/1715653258470991/

No word on how many fifth-graders have utilized this benevolence.

While this kind and surprising gesture won’t ultimately eliminate the real root of the problem—government bureaucrats gone overboard—it’s nice to see a company finally stand up to the extravagant red tape that reveals itself when one shows an entrepreneurial spirit. There’s no reason kids should need to get a license to put up a lemonade stand and pay a fine for not doing so and hopefully, between having Lemon-Ade and lemonade, these kids not only have an advocate but can continue to earn a few quarters for a glass of summer’s beverage of choice.