It seems that instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in our youngsters is not a priority for at least one motorist on Quadra Island.
Quadra Island RCMP checked on a lemonade stand set up on the side of an island road on March 15 after receiving a complaint from a driver.
The driver complained that the lemonade stand, which was being run by two youths who decided to try to participate in our free-enterprise society and learn marketing skills instead of staying at home and playing video games, was set up on the side of a road near a blind hill.
The complainant told the police that the other motorists who were pulling their cars over on the side of the road to park so they could buy some lemonade were a hazard to those driving over the blind hill.
As a result, the driver said a number of other motorists nearly crashed their vehicles as they approached the lemonade stand.
However, when RCMP officers arrived at the alleged dangerous scene, they found the lemonade stand was set up well off the road and in a safe spot, and determined that it was unlikely to cause an accident.
In my opinion, if this driver was really concerned about the safety of other drivers (I note that there was no mention in the story as to whether they were also concerned about the safety of the youths who were operating the stand) he would have approached the youngsters himself and suggested that they should move their stand further from the road instead of calling in the authorities.
I suspect there may have been more at play here.
Whatever the reason, it seems some adults have no problem throwing our youngest and most vulnerable citizens under the bus without giving it a second thought or consideration these days.
I remember about 20 years ago when I was working in Nanaimo, I received a call from a resident of Protection Island, a small island in Nanaimo’s harbour where most people get around on golf carts, complaining that he and number of his neighbours were concerned that a lemonade stand was set up on the side of a road in a dangerous location, and (unbelievably it seems) it was operating without a business licence.
Intrigued by the idea of lemonade stands requiring business licences, I called the bylaw department at the City of Nanaimo, told a manager about the situation on Protection Island, and asked if lemonade stands actually require a business licence.
I recall he was rather stumped by the question and after some consideration and quick consultations with his colleagues, he finally told me that all businesses in the city require a business licence to operate, but lemonade stands and other such roadside enterprises, particularly those run by kids, were a bit of a gray area at the time, and complaints about them were dealt with on an individual basis and left to the discretion of the investigating bylaw officer.
I decided to go to Protection Island and find the offending lemonade stand so I could see for myself how dangerous its location was, and whether any health code or other violations were being perpetrated at the small business.
I found the stand, but there was no one there, so I started banging on the doors of the nearest houses and quickly found the villainous business person who had the community in an uproar.
It was an eight-year-old girl who looked terrified to see that some official-looking person had come to her family’s front door asking questions about her little enterprise, which I noticed was set up about 20 feet from the rural road.
She and her parents explained to me that the girl was on a soccer team that was going to a competition, and she was lending a hand to her team by raising money from her lemonade stand to help pay for the expenses of the trip.
I had her mix up a jug of lemonade and bring it to the stand so I could get some pictures of her pouring some in a cup, and then I wrote a story to go along with the pictures of her young and smiling face stating that this little girl was being targeted by some in her community for raising money for her sports team.
I never received another complaint about her.
Some adults should really get a life.