If it’s warm outside, it time for the perennial story that goes viral about children being hassled by an over-regulated government and forced to close their lemonade stand.
It’s already happened in Stapleton, last weekend, so of course we pounced on the issue climbed aboard our soap boxes, cleared our throats and prepared to preach against the evils of government over-regulation on children.
But it turns out bureaucracy and lack of permit was not to blame for the children’s lemonade stand shutdown.
According to Denver7, temporary stands like the children operated don’t require permits.
Police could be called if someone complains, and according to Denver7 and CBS4 (the children’s mother called both stations), someone did.
That call to police is being blamed on another lemonade vendor, whose stand was right next to where the children set up shop.
Being good little entrepreneurs, the children proceeded to undercut the competition by selling their product at a 71 percent mark down.
The children’s lemonade was 75 cents a cup, or two cups for a dollar.
The vendor, who does have to pay for permits, licensing, insurance and follow health codes, sold lemonade for $7.
Neither the lemonade vendor nor the police were interviewed for the stories.
It sounds to us like the problem could have been better handled if the children had just moved their stand, which by the way had earned $200 before police arrived.
That would have been like, 250 to 400 cups of lemonade sold in just a few short hours.
However, photos show the “lemonade” stand was also selling LaCroix sparking water, cans of soda and bottled water for $1.
Her children, ages 6 and 4, just wanted to operate the “lemonade” stand and then find a charitable cause to donate the earnings, the mom said.
And, she just wanted to teach them how to be good little entrepreneurs.
Sadly for the children, they also learned a lesson in what businesses think about product dumping.