Why would anybody waste their time trying to pursue regulations for lemonade stands?? This is just nuts.

It is quite crazy.

When someone dies from drinking lemonade bought at a child's sidewalk stand, I'll consider regulation. Until then - get a life, people!

Here I thought I was going to read about documented cases of food poisoning from lemonade stands, an unrecognized public health threat. Huh.

First, I have found that my kids get enough of the real world of business when I start charging them for supplies. And second, who drinks the lemonade from lemonade stands? I know I don't. Buy it, pretend to sip, utter compliments and walk away.

Completely ridiculous and waste of time and money to go after regulation for a roadside lemonade stand.

Fortunately the solution is simple. Kids with lemonade stands simply need to change their signs to read "suggested donation". If there's no money being exchanged for goods and services they can't be liable for health code violations.

Should the world follow the same pattern exhibited in cartoons, then I could possibly be on board for some of this. You know, when Timmy's lemonade starts granting people's foolish wishes after Cosmo washes his socks in the lemonade. Dangerous precedent, folks.

(Fairly Oddparents, for you adults that don't watch animated brilliance.)

geez, what freedoms AREN'T under threat of being taken away?!? shouldn't i have the right to choose to buy/drink lemonade from some kid if i want to, without the gov't being involved?

I can't believe The Kitchn picked up this idiotic "story". These people are experts at creating non-troversy, and it's always sad to see people fall for their schtick. Way to go, you crack reporters, you!

I'd hardly call something that ran in Forbes a "story" in quotation marks as if there wasn't something going on here.

Idiotic? Absolutely, but real nonetheless. Hopefully it doesn't have legs.

Haha! What a wacky story. Gave me a good chuckle this morning, AT!

I guess both sides have a point (kind of). On the one hand, kids are not known for being scrupulous about spreading germs. On the other, they're just kids. But on the third hand, this is all getting just silly!!

And a quick note about personal freedom: it is the government's job to control the spread of disease through it's population, and therefore to take possible sources of food contamination seriously, no matter how cute and innocent the source may be.

Actually, doesn't anyone think this would provide a pretty awesome learning experience? This kind of bureaucratic and regulatory red tape is a HUGE part of running a business that most of us don't ever learn about until it's actually time to deal with it on our own. Does it make me crazy that I think this could actually be a positive sort of thing?

Maybe it would actually be practical if there were special provisions for lemonade stands -- like same-day permits and expedited inspections (or just an agreement to follow certain sanitary guidelines signed by the adults supervising the stand). No?

Ah, I'd really rather have imported farm raised shellfish checked for banned growth stimulants that cause cancer in humans and oversees infection to insure that farm raised fish isn't raised solely on excrement or even occasional tests of beef so see if the feed is contaminated.

But sure, lemonade stands are a start.

How do these people get out of bed in the morning? Do they go through a biohazard shower every ten minutes during their work day? No wonder allergies are rampant - we won't expose ourselves to even the most minor of illnesses. While there is merit in the idea that kids can spread germs, parents, the immunocompromised and the elderly have to know their own limits. Yes, you drink from a lemonade stand, you might get sick.

A new bacteria in dog saliva has just been found to cause kidney failure in humans, and dog waste has just as much harmful bacteria as human waste - yet I see people get away with bringing their dogs out to drinking supplies. Better to crack down on that before a whole town gets sick.

This has been a hot topic a few times recently in my area, and (here, at least) the issue isn't that people want to create a rule to make lemonade stands conform to these rigorous standards, it's that lemonade stands already fall under the domain of the current laws for the sale of food. Also, some of the lemonade stands that have been fined for violation have been much larger than the front yard stands we nostalgically recall from our youth. There have been multiple children and parents involved and hundreds of dollars worth of lemonade sold.

I personally don't think small-scale, children-run lemonade stands should need business licenses and health department inspections, and I think those strongly opposed to it should fight to overturn the current law in their area. But until they do, the law should be followed, and if someone chooses to ignore it, the potential consequences should be accepted.

I also agree with violent peas that this issue can be a great learning experience for children, whether by helping them adhere to the regulations to learn about some of the responsibilities of running a business or by allowing them to participate in fighting the regulations to learn about civic participation.

I think it's pretty clear that when you visit a stand selling drinks that children are making, you are entering a zone of somewhat low expectations.

Agreed. I think there's reasonable element of "buyer beware" that renders this really uneccesary.

I think the regulating would be fine if they did it for free.

Seriously???!!!! The people who want the regulations need to take the time that's being spent on this and put it to better use like feeding the homeless or something more cosntructive.

I hate that as a country with some pretty real (and serious) problems this is the stuff some people choose to focus on (though I do think lemonade stand should stay on the front lawn and not at say the farmer's market). On a side note, I'm a sucker for a lemonade stand. I can't not stop.

police in my neighborhood shut down a 9 year olds lemonade stand because it was too close to a downtown festival. they were "unfairly competing" with professional vendors. apparently 20,000 customers isn't enough for two lemonade stands?

Hmmm... What if the lemonade were replaced by hamburgers and the kids by grown-ups? Would you all have the same opinion? The line must be drawn somewhere...

If, on the other hand, a child sets up a lemonade stand that gives away the lemonade free and sets out a cup to collect donations, then I guess nobody can object. It then becomes an entirely non regulated activity. If lawmakers were to try to regulate this scenario, then I would be the first to object. Until then, though, I bend more towards regulating than not regulating.

However, I do hope the same level of attention will be given to more urgent and serious health threats before lemonade stands are tackled. We probably agree that a cup of dog saliva laced lemonade is much less of a health threat than drinking water supplies contaminated by heavy metals from fracking for gas...

I'm buying lemonade from the next kid run lemonade stand I see.