Local Kids Fined $500 for Rogue Lemonade Stand Near U.S. Open Golf Course Well, little kids have to learn about bureaucracy sooner or later, right? This year’s U.S. Open golf tournament, currently underway at Congressional Country Club in Montgomery County, Maryland, will draw hundreds of thousands of spectators to Bethesda over the four-day span. So kids from the the Marriott and Augustine thought they’d set up their little lemonade stand and raise a few bucks for pediatric cancer. (Well, not for the cancer itself, as it’s unclear what a cancer would do with money — the kids tried to raise money for fighting this disease.) Until a county inspector came by and ordered the kids to shut down the stand they set up on Persimmon Tree Road, next to the Congressional course. “And after they allegedly ignored a couple of warnings, the inspector fined their parents $500,” according to WUSA9. “This gentleman from the county is now telling us because we don’t have a vendors license, the kids won’t be allowed to sell their lemonade,” Carrie Marriott told us, her voice trembling. The kids can’t seem to understand it. “I don’t agree, I think the county is wrong.” “We’re sending the money to charity.” WUSA9 has more on the story: The fine may have been a little excessive, both in doling out punishment and the amount of money, but the families can’t say they weren’t warned. Besides, every other vendor in the area did have to apply for a permit from the county, including those residents who applied to allow people to park on their lawns at gouge-worthy prices. The ugly truth is, these parents and kids were at fault. Shutting down a lemonade stand in the middle of an empty street is one thing, but outside a major golf tournament? These kids stood to make thousands of dollars from the arriving crowds. You could argue that might be a good thing, and that they have every right to do so, especially if the proceeds are going to cancer research. It’s the slippery slope argument that hurts, though: If you make an exception for these kids, then why wouldn’t other businesses use kids as fronts to skirt adult responsibilities? This situation definitely sucks, but it’s hard to muster the proper outrage when it looks pretty clear that these families had a big operation but didn’t want to pay for a license. What do you think? Was the county too harsh or did the families ignore the warnings?
Sally 17.06.11 @ 9:04 am I hope they are fined $500 a day for every day they are open! I am SO sick of adults and children not following the rules! PARENTS you should be ashamed of yourself. You are doing NOTHING but teaching your children entitlement behavior and a rules don’t apply to me attitude also, 1. they were warned TWICE 2. This is not your typical KID lemonade stand… did you people see the utensils etc they had 3. The permit they need is FREE for valid charities 4. Only 50% of their PROCEEDS are going to this alleged charity.
Luren 17.06.11 @ 3:10 pm You can’t be serious?!!! These are children fo GOD’s sake!!!! It doesnt matter if the proceeds go to charity or to the children. Children can’t hold a job until they reach a certain age. If they were 15 or older I would agree but these are young children with no other way to earn money besides an allowance from their parents. They should be praised for their actions not fined!!! My brother had a lemonade stand and permitts were not required. He actually had town officials stopping for lemonade. He saved the money to buy our mother a mother’s day gift. He wanted his own money to buy it with. He was 8 years old. Vending permitts were required, but a child’s lemonade stand was not condsidered under that designation. Maybe you would rather see these children shoplifting or breaking into cars or homes. I say shame on the people who issued the fine. They should be fined for stupidity. These are our future entrenpreneurs, how about letting them learn how to run a business without fining away all their profits and pride in their accomlplishment. And more power to them if they give half of the profits to charity. I say we all chip in and pay the fine for them.
Luren 17.06.11 @ 3:14 pm What’s next? Will children now need a license to mow lawns? Rake leaves? Shovel snow? Perhaps we should start taxing their allowance!!!
Jeff 17.06.11 @ 7:24 pm I don’t understand the issue. The kids were able to make money (lots) from already wealthy families. Why can’t the parents take the right procedures to be a vendor and pay the $300 that everyone else had to pay for allowing people to park on their lawns. Even though they are kids, they should still have to follow the rules especially at a high traffic area and the parents were supervising. The fact that it was going to charity is a non-issue. Laws are laws. The parents should have gone through the correct route in obtaining a vendor license to show their kids the PROPER way to start something. As the permit officer stated, this isn’t your low end get $5 – $10 for the day’s work kind of lemonade stand; this was set up to make a couple hundred dollars.