Police Shut Down Girls' Lemonade Stand for Ridiculous Reason

Rachel Bertsche
·Writer
Updated
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Andria Green, left, and her sister, Zoey, by the lemonade stand that was shut down by police on Monday for not having a permit. (Photo: Sandi Evans/Facebook)

Sisters who set up a lemonade stand to fund a Father’s Day gift on Monday were shut down by the police due to a lack of permit.

Andria Green, 8, and her sister, Zoey, 7, set up the lemonade stand to raise the $105 they needed for tickets to the Texas waterpark Splash Kingdom. They were selling lemonade for 50 cents and kettle corn for one dollar on their street in the town of Overton, but about an hour after opening, police showed up and told the girls they needed a permit to sell the lemonade. Police agreed to waive the fee of the permit, which normally would cost $150. “The officer told them they had to go to city hall to get a permit,” Overton Police Chief Clyde Carter tells Yahoo Parenting. “Then the city told them they had to check with the health department, which they didn’t do.”

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According to a Texas law, the sale of food that requires temperature control to prevent spoiling is illegal without a permit. “It’s because of the bacteria that can grow in the lemonade,” Carter says. “The popcorn they were selling was perfectly legal.”

But Sandi Evans, the girls’ mom, told KLTV that sending the family to the health department was too much. “I think that’s ridiculous,” Evans said. “I think they’re 7 and 8 and they’re just trying to make money for their own cause.”

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Evans did not respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment.

On Facebook, Evans wrote that she was feeling defeated. “The police department was very nice to us and provided us with the correct paperwork to get a ‘lemonade selling permit,’” she said. “This is unreal! It’s just lemonade! I almost feel slapped in the face as a return for the effort my family puts into our community!”

Instead of pursuing the permit, the girls will set up a new stand this Saturday, according to KLTV: free lemonade, donations welcome.

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