Ottawa shuts down kids' lemonade stand over permit

To the young entrepreneurs – ages 7 and 5 – it seemed like a win-win situation: Hawk ice-cold lemonade to pedestrians and cyclists on a hot day and rake in money to help pay for summer camp. But their business plan was swiftly derailed by officials in Ottawa, who cited the girls’ lack of a permit to shut down the $1-a-glass lemonade stand.

Eliza Andrews, 7, and her sister Adela, 5, had been running the stand on their front lawn for several weeks. As the date of their summer camp neared, the pair eyed their profit margins and considered a crucial question: location.

On Sunday they relocated, setting up shop on a grassy median that flanked a stretch of road open only to cyclists and foot traffic on Sunday mornings.

Business was just beginning to pick up – the two had earned $52 in about an hour – when a passerby stopped to ask them if they had a permit for their lemonade stand. It wasn’t long after that a uniformed official with the National Capital Commission, a federal agency, arrived on the scene.

They were polite, but said we had to pack up and leave,” Kurtis Andrews, the father of the two girls, told the Toronto Star. His offer to pay for a permit on the spot yielded no compromise. “For a couple of kids, it’s kind of intimidating, with the flashing lights and guy in black uniform.”

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