BARRHEAD - A Barrhead youth loved his experience during Lemonade Day so much he decided to try to make it a full-time job, at least over the summer.
Lemonade Day is a program, offered through Community Futures, that teaches children how to start, own and operate their own business using the classic lemonade stand model.
Since 2007, Lemonade Day has expanded to work with more than 1 million children across the U.S. and Canada.
It was brought into the region by Community Futures in 2017 by the Tawatinaw chapter, which exported it to Westlock and the Yellowhead East office, which in turn introduced the day to Barrhead, Whitecourt, Mayerthorpe, and Woodlands County in 2018.
This year in Barrhead, Lemonade Day was held in conjunction with the June 18 Street Festival. Eleven-year-old Cyrus Peña-Anderson’s stand, which he operated with the help of his 12-year-old sister, Jade, was in front of Sanderman's Home Hardware.
"It was fun. I learned a lot, so I wanted to keep doing it," he said, adding that he learned about Lemonade Day through a flyer at the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre.
As the location did so well for them the first time, Cyrus thought it would be a good spot to set up shop again.
His first step was to negotiate a lease with Sanderman's Home Hardware owner Dave Sawatzky.
"He was very professional, very well-spoken, and a shrewd negotiator," Sawatzky recalled, noting Cyrus visited him, complete with shirt and tie, at the end of June.
After working out a deal with Sawatzky, the pair (with the help of their mom, Bertie) went to the Town of Barrhead municipal office to get their business licence.
The town, as part of the effort to encourage young entrepreneurs and Lemonade Day created a specific class of business licence for lemonade stands.
Municipal office staff told them that although they could provide them with the business licence if they were going to operate their lemonade stand for any length of time, they should seek guidance from Alberta Health Services (AHS). AHS advised them that they would need a food handling safety permit.
"They suggested that we do it for special events only," Cyrus said, noting this also includes Sanderman's Home Hardware events.
The first event they plan to set up their lemonade stand is the Barrhead Demolition Derby on July 23.
As for what they will serve at their lemonade stand, Jade suggested they shouldn’t mess with a good thing.
"We had our own (special recipe of freshly squeezed lemonade), an Arnold Palmer (a combination of lemonade and iced tea) and a very popular Mexican drink, horchata," she said.
Cyrus explained that horchata is a sweet, cold drink made by blending rice and cinnamon sticks in water overnight. After discarding the rice and cinnamon, the remaining liquid is flavoured with vanilla, sugar, and ground cinnamon and is thickened using milk.
"It is really good," he said.
One of the tenets of Lemonade Day is "spend, save and share".
Lemonade Day participants are encouraged to enjoy their efforts by treating themselves, buying something they want, putting a bit away for a future business or education endeavour and sharing their good fortune with a local charity. Cyrus and Jade selected the Freedom/Naples 4-H Club, which they are both members of, with the proceeds going towards the club's Lego project.
However, for their summer lemonade stand, they do not have to follow those same guidelines, but they both said they would not just spend any profit they earn frivolously.
Jade said she plans to put the bulk of her portion of the profits towards her college fund, while Cyrus said he also plans to put some money away but admitted that he will also use the money to add to his own Lego collection.
