When Laura Kurtz set up a lemonade stand as a kid in Raleigh, NC, they were simple things.
“We would bring out card decks and chairs and pop them at the end of the driveway,” said Ms. Kurtz, now 34 and a management consultant at Chapel Hill. “The lemonade will come from the concentrate.”
Fast-forward to Memorial Day 2022, when she and her four-year-old daughter, Penny, set up a lemonade stand on their doorstep.
The idea started with a store: “If you want to buy a set of lemon napkins from TJ Maxx, then of course you have to build an elaborate lemonade stand,” she speaks.
Using crates and other items, Ms. Kurtz built a stand, complete with a white and gold striped canvas awning and shelves to display a bowl of faux lemons and decorative straws. She also made lemon garlands and a bunch of signs, and tied pink ribbons on top for “color pop”.
The morning of the event, Mrs. Kurtz and Penny squeezed lemons and added sugar, water and ice, which her daughter later sold for a dollar a glass. “My father was appalled by the price. He said it was too much money,” Penny said. “I said, ‘Dad, it’s freshly squeezed. “
Penny made $13 in two hours. “I think that might have covered the price of lemons, but that’s not the point,” Ms. Kurtz said. “The purpose is to have fun.”
Lemonade stands have long been part of the quintessential American experience. New York Times article from July 1880 describes them popping up around New York City: “This cheap lemonade business has been very popular in New York within the last year or two,” it said. “In the past, if a thirsty soul wanted a glass of lemonade, on a hot day he had to go to some bar and pay 15 cents for it. Now, at any lemonade stand – and their scores are established – a customer can have an iced lemonade in front of them for 5 cents. “
Children eventually took over the business, and for at least a few generations, parents viewed them as a way for their children to learn business skills while having fun.
Lemonade stands soon hit a pandemic: social distancing rules made them all but impossible. Now they are back in full force in both cities and suburbs across America. While some families still use centralized and card stands, others have become more ambitious: making do-it-yourself shelving, buying a special wardrobe for the occasion, advertising in media. social media and offers more premium options (organic chamomile lemonade, anyone?). Additionally, many vendors are choosing to donate their proceeds to charity.
Michael York, a Marine veteran of East Bridgewater, Mass., and his daughter, Aria, don’t want to join a card table. “We spent a day building our own lemonade stand,” says Aria, 8, “We found wood in the street and decorated it. We used sparkling black, blue, green and gold paint to make the sign.”
“It was fun to do,” she added.
Even after the pandemic, York, 36, still appreciates how bonding projects like these are for his family. “I go a bit too far with everything we do with the kids,” he says (he and his wife also have a four-year-old daughter).
It is important to him and his daughter that all the money goes to a good cause: raised $280 for Home Base, an organization that provides funds and medical care to veterans and their families. (“That was great,” Aria said.)
And unlike their parents, kids now have access to technology to help boost profits.
For Carrie Weprin of the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, accepting Venmo payments from cashless people was a game changer.
And Mrs Weprin found that her children, Elijah, 5, and Naomi, 3, were tenacious salesmen: “Whenever someone walks by and doesn’t stop, they get very loud. about that,” said Mrs Weprin, 36. a documentary filmmaker. They “have no shame.” After the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the family donated the proceeds to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control.
Children often set up a lemonade stand and hope people see it. They and their parents can now advertise their booths on social media and via text.
“We used Facebook and Instagram to advertise and a lot of people came,” said York. “It was like something special, for a day.”
Michelle Park, a TV journalist, didn’t know what she was doing when she let her children, Madeleine, 6, and Eloise, 3, run a lemonade stand on a Sunday this month. “I can’t remember ever having a kid growing up. My parents were immigrants from Korea so they didn’t think about it,” she said. “This idea is all Eloise’s idea.”
“I saw someone do it outside the playground and I wanted to do it too,” the 3-year-old explained.
The original plan was to hold the 1pm-2:15pm event outside their home in Essex County, NJ Ms. Park, 39, had two large folding tables and ordered yellow polka dot tablecloths white and the kids T-shirts that say “lemonade stand owner” from Amazon.
They intended to squeeze the lemonade by hand but quickly realized that would take too long. “We ended up buying the whole supermarket, like 10 cartons,” she said, adding that “it was organic.”
The kids decided they wanted the money to go to GoFundMe for the families affected by the tragedy in Uvalde, so they asked for a suggested $10 donation for the all-you-can-drink lemonade (Ms. makes great gifts for adults like hydrating powders and stiff cutters.“I want people to leave with something more than a $10 cup of lemonade,” she says.)
Ms. Park has messaged parents about the lemonade stand on multiple group chats. 40 people showed up and about half stayed until 6:30 p.m. “We bring out whatever we have in the house: shrimp, cocktails, chips. We also ordered pizza,” she said. “It became a big party with kids playing and adults hanging out.”
Madeleine said: “I was a bit shy at first, but then my friends came and I got a little bit of courage, because I wanted to play with them.
“It was a plan and ran around more than I thought it would. Who knew lemonade stands were involved in this,” said Ms. Park. “From now on, I will support every lemonade stand I see.”
