You know the saying: when life gives you lemons… Have your lemonade stand shut down by a police officer.
It’s not the outcome that any child entrepreneur would want, but eight-year-old Asa Baker had to cease trading from her makeshift beverage stand after police officers received a tip from a member of the public.
The child, who was selling the refreshing drink last weekend in an alley nearby her father’s workplace in Alliance, Ohio, had also unfortunately positioned her start-up business near a food convention.
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As she was situated near the Alliance Ohio Rib and Food Festival at the time, authorities asked the child to stop selling there after a festival organiser reported Asa.
The child told a news outlet that cops attempted to support her to apply for the correct permit.
She said to WJW–TV: “Well, they were really sad that they had to shut me down but they gave me $20 to try and pay for it.”
Local police lieutenant Don Wensel told the outlet that festival organisers were at odds with reporting the child, but that it is an officer’s duty to enforce local laws.
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Elsewhere, the child’s mother showed sympathy towards the police officer who shut down her daughter’s lemonade stand.
Katrina Moore told the publication: “I could definitely tell he did not want to shut her down, but, I mean, you get a call, he has to do it.
“He definitely did the right thing, you know, in the situation he was put in.”
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Wensel also added that authorities are not actively targeting children selling lemonade, but that the city laws state that vendors must have a licence before selling to the public, causing this ‘unusual circumstance’ with Asa and her homemade products.
Moore said: “In order to get a food vendors licence, it only lasts for five days and it's $40 for five days so that’s kind of out of the picture.
“If she wants to sell on the street, she has to get a street permit. If she sells in front of a business, we have to get a solicitors permit,” her mother explained of the many different permit options they would have to consider.
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However, another local business owner Eric Strata, had come across a Facebook post about the child’s misfortune and offered to help with the permit process, as well as allow Asa to sell from outside his business.
Asa’s lemonade stand was back open for business on Friday in front of Strata’s venue, where police stated they would not interfere.
Strata said: “He (the officer) had to do his job, but it just felt so unjust to me because she’s eight, she’s just an innocent little girl that wants to be motivated and wants to do something with herself. Why shut that down?”
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Asa has since garnered plenty of business since the move to her new spot, having raked in ‘hundreds of dollars’ according to the outlet.
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Gabriella Ferlita