Registration open for Lemonade Day Modesto

This year’s Lemonade Day Modesto will take place on a Lemonade Lane of sorts.

Since Modesto joined the nationwide Lemonade Day program in 2012, the entrepreneurial skill-building event for youths had featured booths located around the city.

But for the first time, entrants will be grouped along 15th Street between G and H streets. Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 21, that block will be known as Lemonopolis and will be lined with stands built and run by young entrepreneurs.

Grouping the lemonade stands lends itself to competitions, including best-tasting lemonade, most original lemonade and best lemonade stand. The winners of each will receive a prize. The change also is meant to give the event a community feel it didn’t have with the scattered booths, said Center for Human Services spokeswoman Elizabeth Rowan. It’s a safe environment and should bring stands increased foot traffic.

Hosted by Datapath and the Center for Human Services, Lemonade Day is free to enter, but participants are responsible for the costs of building their stands and creating their lemonade to sell. Registration is open.

Those who attend a registration event will receive a free backpack, while supplies last, as well as a Lemonade Day mentor guide and a youth or teen workbook. The mentor guide and workbook can also be downloaded electronically.

The workbooks include information “about what sort of costs will go into building the stand so they learn to budget, how to make their products, what thoughts need to go into building the stand,” Rowan said.

Youths should learn about setting a goal, developing a business plan, advertising and finding investors. They’ll learn life skills such as leadership, collaboration, responsibility and teamwork, organizers say.

They’ll also be encouraged to celebrate their monetary success by “spending some, saving some and sharing some.” Lemonade Day has encouraged children to also donate part of their profits by picking a cause of their choice.

Last year’s Modesto champion, Jorge Mendoza, who took second place nationwide, chose to benefit Make-A-Wish. He donated $125 to the organization.

Jorge, now 13 and a student at Prescott Middle School, had a stand outside Doctors Medical Center. He sold 16-ounce cups of lemonade in three varieties – sparkling, hibiscus and sugar-free – along with chocolate-covered strawberries and Rice Krispies squares.

His stand was borrowed, and Jorge took a loan from his mother, Erika, to buy the lemonade ingredients and cups.

From his profits, Jorge made the Make-A-Wish donation, paid $190 to go to music camp, put away $209 in savings and paid $249 to his younger brother and business partner, Sebastian.

The brothers sold 208 glasses of lemonade.

“They got lots of tips and a lot of donations – people writing checks,” Erika Mendoza said.

Participants for this year’s event can register online at lemonadedaymodesto.com or at a registration event. Those events will take place:

▪ April 23 at Love Modesto in front of the Gallo Center for the Arts, from 9 a.m. to noon.

▪ April 23 at Earth Day in the Park in Graceada Park, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at booths run by the Center for Human Services and Datapath.

▪ April 30 at the Datapath office, 318 McHenry Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On the day of the event, parents/guardians and youth participants will need to check in at the registration booth between 9 and 10:15 a.m.

To learn more, call the Lemonade Day Modesto office at 209-300-7359 or visit lemonadedaymodesto.com.

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Registration open for Lemonade Day Modesto."