Lemonade Day Northern Alberta celebrates youth entrepreneurs

by Lucie Roy

Community Futures Tawatinaw Region (CFTR) recognized the many participants in the Lemonade Day as the young entrepreneurs gathered in Westlock and were acknowledged for their efforts and dedication.

Amanda Robinson, CFTR said they had 24 towns participate in Lemonade Day Northern Alberta, 624 kids registered for the program and there were 174 stands on the map on Lemonade Day.

Some of the youth won prizes for Best Tasting Lemonade in the Area, Best Lemonade Stand in the Area and Area Entrepreneur of the Year.

The winners from the Morinville area were as follows:

Best Tasting Lemonade in the Area went to- Lemonade in the Garden- Ayla Rheubottom, who also was the recipient of the Best Area Entrepreneur.

Best Stand in the Area went to Candy Time Lemonade- Korbin, Michelle & Annika Dubois.

The winners in the Redwater area were:

Best Tasting Lemonade in Area- Aloha Tutti Fruity Lemonade- Mackenzie Kofluk and also received the Best Area Entrepreneur.

Best Stand in the Area- Energon Lemonade- Landon Finnerty.

Each winner was awarded a $250 prize and the winners of Best Area Entrepreneur will be put forward into the Regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award where if they are selected they can win $1000 and that will be awarded and announced in the next week or so.

Ayla Rheubottom said she had a normal Lemonade and a Garden Special Lemonade.

The winner, the Garden Special had a strawberry-raspberry syrup that was used as most of the sweetener.

Ayla said she is definitely doing it again next year.

For some of the money, she saved a portion to go swimming and camping, and for the prize money from the Best Tasting Lemonade, she purchased all her supplies.

She also donated money to the Morinville Centennial Community Garden Society (MCCGS) for some of their projects.

“She was her own investor,” said proud dad, Rob.

He went on to say, “She is getting pretty good. This year she was amazed at how much she made and how much she was actually looking forward to get going with it and she is so boisterous, everybody comes up and say oh my, get her into some sort of sales, or where she is dealing with people.”

The CFTR encourages youth in the region to take this opportunity to start, operate and own their own business to help today’s youth become the business leaders, social advocates, community volunteers and forward-thinking citizens.

The program involves working through a workbook that outlines all the steps to start a business, setting the goals, creating a business plan, making a budget, look for an investor, saving money and giving some of the profits back to the community.