For the last three years, Locklyn Barker of Columbus has set up a stand for Golden Triangle Lemonade Day, offering regular and honey lemonade, along with chocolate chip cookies to her customers.
Now 9, Barker said the experience has helped her learn to count money. It’s also taught her how to make her money count, with one-third of her proceeds each year going to an area nonprofit. This year, she said, she will raise funds for the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society.
“I feel good after I donate and help out people,” Barker said.
Barker is one of 256 area children signed up to participate Saturday in this year’s Lemonade Day, said Margaret Mary Coker, office coordinator for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach at Mississippi State University. The national business literacy initiative first came to Starkville in 2018 and has spread throughout the region.
Coker said kids kindergarten through 12th grade can sign up individually or in groups, and the total number of participants normally continues to grow as the event approaches.
“Lemonade Day is a great day for the youth of (the Golden Triangle) to be able to learn more about entrepreneurship,” Coker told The Dispatch. “It helps them with financial literacy, customer service, innovation and life skills that they can use from now into adulthood.”
Lisa Klutts, executive director for the West Point Clay County Community Growth Alliance, said participants can set up in front of their houses or in front of a local business if granted permission. For those looking to visit the various lemonade stands, Klutts said customers can find the stands’ locations through the Brand Your Stand feature on the Lemonade Day website.
Barker isn’t the only stand-runner who has learned the importance of giving back to her community through participating in Lemonade Day. Barbara Bigelow, director for Main Street Columbus, said she sees participants learning this lesson every year.
“It is asked that some of the funds … raised be given back to a nonprofit in the community,” Bigelow said. “I’ve seen them understand the importance of that and how good it makes them feel to be able to give back in that manner.”
Bigelow said downtown Columbus is also hosting a sidewalk sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that will bring traffic downtown and provide the young entrepreneurs with more potential customers.
“Not only can our community come downtown and support some of our young entrepreneurs by testing their lemonade, they can also stop in our downtown stores, which will be offering lots of discounts, promotions, and various opportunities to purchase,” Bigelow said.
Klutts told The Dispatch in an email that Lemonade Day can help children turn their business aspirations from a dream into a realistic goal they can work toward.
“It may create a passion for a kid to start their own business when they grow up, all because they had a lemonade stand one summer,” she said.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
