Cops Bust Girls for Illegal Lemonade Stand

When life hands you lemons, sure, you can make lemonade—but don’t you dare try to sell it. Not in Midway, Georgia, at least. Local police recently busted three tweens for setting up a lemonade stand without obtaining the proper business licenses and permits.

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The girls were selling homemade lemonade to earn money to go to a water park and had only been open for a day when Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar spotted them and shut their stand down. "We had told them, 'We understand you guys are young, but still, you’re breaking the law, and we can’t let you do it anymore,'" Morningstar told reporters, adding, “We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with.”

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The story quickly made international headlines, thanks to a flood of calls, emails, and social media updates in support of the girls. Within a week, the girls became a trending topic on Twitter, got a sponsorship deal with Calypso Lemonade, and (score!) received four tickets to their dream water park.

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The controversy has many defending this classic kid summer pastime. “What’s the big deal about a lemonade stand?  We’ve done it forever, and I thought it was a good thing to teach them to learn their own responsibilities and make their own money if they want to do fun things,” the girls’ mother Amy Roberts told The Coastal Source. “I just thought I was doing the right thing.”

What do you think: Were the cops right in shutting down the lemonade stand?