New Lemonade Day set for the summer

With the Summer weather and season vastly approaching the Town of Sylvan Lake announced a new Lemonade Day program in a press release on May 2.

Spring and Summer are perfect in Sylvan Lake for children to have a taste of being their own boss and launching small businesses such as lemonade stands, FCSS youth services supervisor Krista Carlson said.

“With the new Lemonade Day program through fun, hands-on experiences, kids ages 8 to 11 will learn how to create a business plan, budget, set goals, serve customers and will make hard-earned cash.”

The program is a way for the town to provide local youth to harness creativity while learning practical skills.

“The program will help kids to look past the status quo and see new and exciting opportunities for their future. We hope that Lemonade Day will motivate and inspire them to think about future business ownership in Sylvan Lake, adding to our business community and economic success,” Carlson said.

The town was inspired to start the program because lemonade stands are often the first entrepreneurial experience for many young people.

“We had heard about a program called “Lemonade Day” that originated in 2007 in Houston, Texas and we reached out to the Lemonade Day organization to see how we could bring this program to Sylvan Lake.

“They have partnered with only a couple of other cities in Canada but felt like Sylvan Lake was the perfect community to take it on,” Carlson said.

Each youth who participates in the program will receive a workbook created by the Lemonade Day organization.

“Participants will work through the curriculum with the support of a parent or business mentor and have the opportunity to come together to learn and share new skills through in-person workshops.”

Throughout the summer as the children participating complete their workbooks and attend workshops they will also:

Create a business plan and meet with potential investors
Create their unique lemonade recipe
Build their stand, and choose a name for their business
Choose a location or ‘Sweet Spot’ for their business
Purchase supplies
Create marketing and advertising material for their business
Set financial goals

Since the program launched on the Town’s website there has been a ton of interest, Carlson said.

“There has been an incredible amount of engagement on the posts made on our website and social media.”

The program is open to any child between the ages of 8 to 11 to participate.

“Our hope is that any child that wants to and has the drive to open their own lemonade stand will be able to. Our goal is to have at least 30 stands open for business,” Carlson said.

Local business owners who want to get involved can also sign-up on the website to become a ‘Sweet Spot’ sponsor allowing for a lemonade stand to operate outside of their business between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on August 12.

@sarahbaker
sarah.baker@blackpress.ca
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