By Abby Zieverink

Lemonade Day June 18

Lemonade Day registration open for northern Alberta youth entrepreneurs

Mar 13, 2022 | 5:00 AM

June 18 is Lemonade Day in northern Alberta, and registration is open for youth in Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Lemonade Day is a free program organized by Community Futures Grande Prairie & Region and used to teach young entrepreneurs how to start, own, and operate their own business by running a lemonade stand.

The 2021 edition saw nearly 700 participants, which Lemonade Day northern Alberta Director Amanda Robinson says was quite successful. However, she believes even more young entrepreneurs will register for the 2022 edition.

“I opened registration on March 1, and we already have 125 kids registered, and registration doesn’t close until June 1, so I think we will have significantly more kids than last year,’ she explained.

Youth who register for Lemonade Day will have the option to choose between a work booklet or an app, which Robinson says will be used to create a business plan.

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“From starting a plan to setting a goal, doing a budget, finding an investor, and picking a business location,” she said. “It basically walks them through the whole business process, much like a business plan would.”

From there, Robinson explains participants will attend “Lemonade University” learning the skills they need to be successful on Lemonade Day.

“Lemonade University is where they learn the necessary lessons that are not covered in the lesson book including health and safety and customer service.”

She tells EverythingGP 11 Community Future regions will be participating in Lemonade Day, with 46 towns participating for youth to set up shop.

“Within each region, there are a few of those towns that will be offering training and the kids will come and attend a session for about two to three hours,” she said.

In addition, youth participants are encouraged to approach and work with local businesses around their community.

“That’s why it works so well in a rural area, because of course, if you live on a farm or acreage, it’s very hard to run a lemonade stand successfully,” explained Robinson.

“Whereas with Lemonade Day, you can come to your closest largest town, pair with the business, and then set up your lemonade stand within that high traffic area; so, you get a really good clientele for the day.”

The program also encourages participants to save some, spend some, and share some of their profits.

Out of the nearly 700 participants in 2021, 57 per cent spent a portion of their profit, 92 per cent of participants saved a portion, and 93 per cent shared a portion.

Robinson says by the time youth complete Lemonade Day they become “quite the little salesmen and businessmen.”

Registration for Lemonade Day Northern Alberta is open from March 1 to June 1, 2022.

A link to apply can be found here.