Youths drink up the competition at Modesto Lemonade Day

No one went thirsty at downtown Modesto’s first centralized Lemonade Day.

The Saturday event, part of a national program meant to encourage youth entrepreneurship, brought together dozens of inventive homemade lemonade stands for one day. More than 150 area youths took part, selling everything from lemonade to slushies, brownies to beef skewers, and much more at their booths.

“I’ve learned how to make money in a good way and have fun doing it,” said 10-year-old Michal Lewis, who was selling fruit puree-flavored lemonade at her Lil Lady’s Lemonade stand.

The objective of the day is to teach students in second through eighth grades the basic skills necessary to start, own and operate their own businesses. The participants needed to come up with a concept, find investors, price their products and more, while also marketing themselves in a creative way. Some picked fun names such as Yumminade and Tiki-Lade. Others offered samples, snacks, games and more enticements.

“It’s neat to see all the stands, everyone is very crafty and different,” said 8-year-old Turlock resident Mia Franck, whose booth Sassy Girls Lemonade with friend Rylie Rice was named best overall lemonade stand.

In years past, the event has been spread throughout the city, with booths scattered through neighborhoods and businesses. But this year the competition was kept around each other with more than 30 booths filling a parking lot, renamed Lemonopolis, at H and 15th streets. This year’s event was co-sponsored by the Center for Human Services and Datapath.

“We thought the best way to make sure it was safe and community-based was to have it centralized. This way the kids can learn from each other. We also wanted to focus on downtown Modesto and bring more people here,” said David Darmstandler, Datapath CEO and event organizer.

The free, citywide event brought out families and thirsty onlookers. The sellers were encouraged to save some of their earnings for themselves and give some away to worthy causes. Winners were also selected in three categories. Besides best overall stand, tops were named for most original stand (The Juicy Blaby by Nevaeh Boissiere) and best-tasting lemonade (Twinmonade by Paige and Maci Sturdivant).

“It teaches responsibility and learning how to manage your own business,” said 11-year-old Emma Frazer of Oakdale, who ran the Yumminade stand with her friend Haleigh Humble. “We did it because we thought it would be fun to be an entrepreneur, and to make some cash.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Youths drink up the competition at Modesto Lemonade Day."