Lemonade Day set to go ahead in Whitecourt and surrounding communities

Whitecourt, AB, Canada / XM 105

Apr 29, 2021

Erika Chorostil

Youth from Kindergarten to high school will have the chance this year to learn entrepreneurial skills and how to run a business by building their own lemonade stand.

Lemonade Day Northern Alberta will be June 19, and registration is open until Saturday, May 1 on lemonadeday.org for youth to participate.

The free program teaches youth how to start, own, and operate their own business through a lemonade stand. Participants have the chance to win prizes for Area Best Entrepreneur, Area Best Tasting Lemonade, Area Best Lemonade Stand, and Regional Entrepreneur of the Year.

Communities taking part in Lemonade Day this year are Whitecourt, Fox Creek, Mayerthorpe, Onoway, Swan Hills, Barrhead, and Fort Assiniboine. Those who register for the program will attend training sessions throughout the month of May in their participating communities.

The training sessions will run for kids and mentors from 4 pm to 6:30 pm on the following days:

May 10 – Fox Creek

May 12 – Mayerthorpe

May 18 – Onoway

May 19 – Swan Hills

May 25 – Whitecourt

May 26 – Barrhead

June 1 – Fort Assiniboine

In the training sessions, the youth will complete a workbook and discuss things like choosing a business partner, selecting a local business location for their stand, designing their stand, developing their lemonade recipe, practicing food safety, advertising, creating a budget, and more.

On June 19, youth will set up their stands around their communities to sell their lemonade and then decide what to do with their profits.

Program officials say they will be monitoring the COVID-19 situation, which cancelled the event in 2020, and says all COVID-19 health guidelines will be implemented and followed to ensure safety for participants and the public.

Whitecourt Mayor Maryann Chichak says the town and council are looking forward to the event, since it was so successful in 2019.

“Hopefully it’ll be able to happen this year pending health restrictions, but two years ago when we had it it was so much fun and such a good initiative in our community,” says Chichak. “An amazing amount of youth that participated and showed their entrepreneurial spirit, not only the sites that they built their stands on but also their lemonade recipes. It was a lot of fun to participate in it and I really encourage as many youths as possible to put their thinking caps on and enter into the Lemonade Day.”

More information is on the Lemonade Day Northern Alberta Facebook page, or on Community Futures Yellowhead East’s Facebook page.

-Erika Chorostil.