If you were thirsty on Saturday June 11th, you had plenty of delicious options if lemonade is your thing. With fifty-four stands in all corners of the city, you couldn’t go far without stumbling upon one. And if you did, you were in for a treat.
The concept of Lemonade first came to Chestermere at the hand of David Petrovich, Economic Development Officer with the City of Chestermere. Having heard of this and observed it in Okotoks, Petrovich knew that Chestermere could pull this off – and pull it off they did.
From the initial stages of planning, organization, looking for sponsors, having kids register and then the execution on June 11th – this event proved to be a remarkable for all involved.
Once all the planning, mentoring and lemonade creating was done – the only thing left was to rely on Mother Nature and hope for a day of big sales. Although a big breezy, the weather cooperated and the sales….well, Chestermere did what Chestermere always does….supports.
These young entrepreneurs began opening up their stands in the late morning and kept them going until late afternoon with most reporting great turnouts. Quite a few of the stands even began selling out of items before the end of the day – which speaks to the amazing support they received from the community.
Mayor Patricia Matthews, and Jean-Marc Lacasse Manager of Economic Development toured to stand after stand – testing the lemonade and speaking with the young business owners.
“When I look back at Saturday, there are three things I can clearly emphasize. First and foremost, I am impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit our Chestermere youth as demonstrated, from stand design to lemonade recipes, while consciously thinking about location and advertising tactics. Some existing companies could learn from them. Secondly, the Chestermere community spirit was once again demonstrated in an exemplary way with large turnouts, and I am sure our youth will remember this day for a long time. I visited most of them, some towards the end, and many youths were proud to share that they had passed their break-even point.
Thirdly, we need to thank our local businesses that hosted / supported / sponsored these fine young entrepreneurs. Their dedication to Chestermere’s needs and wants was well demonstrated today, and I hope we can all increase our support to our local businesses in the future”, said Lacasse.
I spoke with Mackenzie Guider who not only participated in Lemonade Day but also was the first place winner of the Best Lemonade contest that took place on June 2nd. Guider said that, “The most difficult part was making a budget, it’s hard and everything costs more than I thought. Lemonade day has been a fun experience. I’ve learned a lot about business and the cost of making something to sell”.
Mayor Patricia Matthews was out supporting these young entrepreneurs and had this to say about the event, “Quite simply put, a great group of dedicated volunteers worked hard with staff at City Hall to create a wonderful environment for entrepreneurs to flourish through Lemonade Day. And boy did they flourish! So many different kinds of lemonade could be found but so many more creative youth came out of this event. What an awesome success for our community and everyone involved!”.
David Petrovich, Economic Development Officer with the City of Chestermere and the guy who started it all said, “The Lemonade Day program was more than a one day event, it was a training program. It was meant to teach and empower youth to be entrepreneurs so that they could flourish in the future. Chestermere’s youth responded with vigour, hard work and most of all creativity. The City was proud to lead this program that supports entrepreneurial development. Another big thank you to all our sponsors”.
