"When life hands you arcane laws, make lemonade" is the tagline for a new legal team announced by Country Time Lemonade, tasked with defending kids who get in trouble over issues like permits when they try to run a lemonade stand.
In a video on YouTube, Country Time cites news headlines about kids running into red tape over lemonade stands, like Autumn Thomasson, a 5-year-old California girl who was cited for not having a license for her stand.
Forbes lamented this trend in a 2011 article headlined "The inexplicable war on lemonade stands," citing cases like police in an Iowa town shutting down 4-year-old Abigail Krstinger’s lemonade stand, or police in Georgia doing the same for a stand run by three girls who were trying to save up for a trip to a water park.
It's not just in the U.S. The BBC reported a case of a girl in London who was busted by enforcement officers and fined 150 pounds for her lemonade stand.
In its video, Country Time said it is "making sure no kid is denied their right to a lemonade stand, and all the benefits they bestow," like entrepreneurship, good work habits, and fun.
Photo: Courtesy of Trish Fronczak
On a web page explaining the service, Country Time says, "Life doesn't always give you lemons, but when it does, you should be able to make and share lemonade with the neighborhood without legal implications."
If parents or legal guardians of lemonade entrepreneurs have been fined in 2017 or 2018, or have had to get a permit, Country Time says it will cover the fine or permit fees up to $300.
Unfortunately for harassed lemonade purveyors overseas, the offer's only good for U.S. residents.
