Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton proclaimed June 15th as the annual celebration of entrepreneurship among youth- Lemonade Day.
Lemonade Day has been a long-standing tradition in Grande Prairie for the past few years, and while lemonade stands tend to be overlooked as an education tool for youth, Mayor Clayton says Lemonade Day means so much more.
“Lemonade Day is a great day in our community,” she says. “Really it’s an opportunity for youth to learn about having a business, sourcing supplies, and potentially having staff, resources, and sponsorship and executing an operation for a day.”
During the event, participating youth will be in charge of developing their own recipes, decorating their booths, marketing their operation, and selling their lemonade. A team of judges will then go out and judge the youth based on a variety of criteria including their business plan, how their business looks, how their lemonade tastes, and what they plan on doing with their savings.
Mayor Clayton says residents will have the chance to go tour through the community while tasting different lemonade and see the creativity of Grande Prairie youth on display.
“It enhances the entrepreneurial spirit because it engages youth at a young age in the traditional lemonade stand approach,” she says.
In past years, the city has seen up to 20 different lemonade stands set up across the community and Mayor Clayton says she hopes to see everyone get out and support all of the participants.