There are a whopping 19 stands to choose from!
By Tom Kocal
for This Is Laramie
tkocal915@icloud.com
LARAMIE — Lemonade Day Laramie is back this year!
The Laramie story began in 2019 when this refreshing event was first introduced to the Gem City. The first year, 22 stands with 48 young entrepreneurs participated. After taking 2020 off during the pandemic, Lemonade Day is back in Laramie for its second year on Saturday, August 14.
Lemonade Day is a free, fun, experiential learning program that teaches youth how to start, own and operate their own business – a lemonade stand. Kent Wood, Vice President, Commercial Relationship Manager at the First Interstate Bank in Laramie, and chairman of this year’s event, said the main objective of Lemonade Day is to empower youth to take ownership of their lives and become productive members of society – the business leaders, social advocates, volunteers, and forward thinking citizens of tomorrow.
“On Lemonade Day, everyone has a job,” said Wood. “If you’re not running a stand on Lemonade Day, our goal is to have a huge amount of the community participate by buying lemonade from our young entrepreneurs. So, please tell your friends and family to get out and support our stands. Lemonade Day works best when we have lots of stands, and just as crucial, lots of buyers!”
Wood said each child that registers receives a backpack with an Entrepreneur Workbook that teaches them the lessons of Lemonade Day like creating budgets, setting profit-making goals, serving customers, repaying investors, and giving back to the community. Along the way, they acquire skills in goal-setting, problem solving, and gain self-esteem critical for future success. They keep all the money they make and are encouraged to spend some, but also to save some and share some.
“The money made at each stand on Lemonade Day belongs to the youth participants who operate the stand. One-hundred percent of what they make is their business profit,” Wood said.
“The Lemonade Day curriculum encourages them to spend some, save some, and share some: spend some on themselves for all their hard work; save some and open – or add to – a bank account; and share some with a charity, non-profit or cause in the Laramie community. Please take note that of our 2019 post-event survey participant responses, 100% donated some of their profits to a local non-profit. Outstanding!” said Wood.
Participants get to choose their own business hours, so take your time and tour Laramie to search for that perfect glass of lemonade.
“As Lemonade Day business owners, pick what works best for you, and your prospective customers. We see stands open up as early as 9 am, and close as late as 5 pm. Most stands are open between about 11am and 3 pm,” Wood said.
For more information, listen for radio ads running on Hits 106; Ads, map, and stories are coming in the Boomerang; Or check out lemonadeday.org/laramie for a full listing of all Lemonade Day participants and their locations, sponsors, and a photo gallery of the 2019 Laramie Lemonade Day event (under the “Learn More” – Media tab).
