Chilly temperatures and a little rain did not put a damper on the hundreds of children and their parents setting up lemonade stands across town on Saturday.

The fourth annual Lubbock Lemonade Day was held on Saturday, May 14 all across the Hub City. The event focuses on empowering tomorrow’s entrepreneurs by teaching them to start, own and operate their very own business all through building a lemonade stand. This year’s goal was to register 4,000 area youth who would partner and start over 900 news businesses across the city. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Star Wars,’ or rather, “Lemon Wars.”

“Lemonade Day is fun to do, and it’s hard work,” said J.J. Ojeda of Lubbock who was selling lemonade alongside his cousin, Nathaniel Gutierrez of Big Spring.

“It’s been hard because it’s cold outside,” said Gutierrez. “We thought nobody was going to come, but business has been good.”

From city sidewalks to setting up shop in front of large businesses, stands were scattered through all parts of town, and it wasn’t just lemonade they were selling. The kids were able to reel in customers by selling barbecue, sausage wraps, sweet tea and sugary sweets such as candy, lemon squares and brownies.

Take it from fifth grader Katie Scholl, Miss 2015 “Entrepreneur of the Year,” who was also out selling lemonade and other treats.

“We’re out here selling lemonade for Lemonade Day. We have some barbecue, some pulled pork and we have some brisket,” said Scholl. “It’s [Lemonade Day] taught me you can’t get anything for free, you have to work for it.”

Not only were the children responsible for assembling the lemonade stands, and creating a detailed budget plan, but they were also given the task of deciding on what to do with their hard-earned money.

“We thought it would be nice to help out the Ronald McDonald house,” say Jet Sammann and Zoe Howell, both students at Nat Williams Elementary.

“”i really like the haven and i think more people need to support it,” said Jase Salazar, a fifth grader from Hodges Elementary.

“We know that the homeless are in need of it so i decided to donate my money to the homeless at carpenter’s,” said Hannah Appel.

“We had a charity that we had to choose and there was a lot, but we thought Wounded Warriors would be good,” said Janiah Bird, alongside her team at their “Lemon-A-Peel” stand.

Lemonade Day presents itself a great opportunity for children to learn how to give back to their community, one they can share also with their parents.

“It teaches her the value of a dollar she can earn her own money she can learn to plan and budget and know how that you have to buy the material s and that you have to pay those back before you make a profit,” said Kathy Scholl, Katie Scholl’s mother.

“I just think it’s good for the parents to come out it gets them out of the house. It gets them off games, off social media stuff, like that and just hang out and have a good day. Unfortunately, it’s not the brightest day, but it’s still nice out here,”Jacquelyn Perez, Jase Salazar’s mother.

Partners with the event proudly announced six $500 scholarships for the following categories:
Best Business Plan
Most Creative Marketing
Best Lemonade Stand
Best Sales and Customer Service
Most Profitable Lemonade Stand
Most Charitable Lemonade Stand

In addition, one Lemonade Day Rockstar will be named Entrepreneur of the Year, taking home the grand prize of a $1,000 scholarship to be awarded on the field at a home football game this fall.

For more information on Lubbock Lemonade Day, click here. https://lubbock.lemonadeday.org/