Cited Bethesda Lemonade Stand Draws National Media Attention

As the U.S. Open focuses the news spotlight on Bethesda, a children’s charity lemonade stand operating near drew a flurry of media attention Thursday and Friday after the stand was for operating without a permit.

The news spread to the websites of major news groups nationally and even internationally—USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, and Toronto's The Globe and Mail, to name a few.

It started when local news station WUSA9 Thursday filmed the stand being cited by a county official for operating without a permit. The citation meant the families of the children operating the stand would need to go to court and potentially pay a fine of up to $500.

The kids were selling drinks to Open spectators to raise funds for —a local children’s triathalon to benefit pediatric cancer this Sunday, and an event in which some of the young entrepreneurs were participating.

County officials later said the stand was posing a safety issue in its location along Persimmon Tree Road, a major thoroughfare to and from the U.S. Open.

“We think the county’s wrong,” the children told WUSA9.

“We’re sending the money to charity.”

The news quickly spread through the mainstream media and blogosphere alike, inciting an outcry from readers and headlines including, “Lemonade Stand Gets Squeezed” and “U.S. Open: Criminalizing a Lemonade Stand.”

Friday, however, all was back to normal at the lemonade stand—with the addition of a few news vans.

The county had rescinded the citation after the families of the children agreed to move it around the corner to Country Club Drive, set back a bit from Persimmon Tree Road.

The county has said that all vendors operating near the U.S. Open need a permit, and even those permitted are subject to traffic and safety considerations.

"The individuals involved in selling drinks from coolers at a tented stand on River Road have agreed to move the stand around the corner to a location on Country Club Drive. This new location does not adversely impact traffic and pedestrian flow in the area of the U.S. Open. The citation issued yesterday is rescinded," read a statement issued by county spokesman Patrick Lacefield.

Still in business, the kids have raised about $600 for the event—with the majority of the proceeds coming in after the story hit the news. “I’m buying my lemonade and I’m not even taking it, just because of what the county is doing,” said one stand patron, donating a few dollars.

“It’s a great organization—all they want to do is come out here and sell lemonade,” said the mother of some of the children operating the stands, who would only give her first name, Carrie. Behind her, the kids sold lemonades and Cokes for $2 to spectators heading out of Congressional after a brief Friday rain shower. A handwritten yellow sign read, “Proceeds will go to pediatric cancer.”

“It’s a good lesson for the kids,” she said. “When you believe in something, you stand up for it, even if it’s hard.”