Police in the small town of Overton, Texas shut down a lemonade stand run by two little girls because they did not have a permit. Andria and Zoey Green were selling lemonade so they could raise $100 to take their dad to Splash Kingdom for his Father's Day present.
"It is a lemonade stand, but they also have a permit that they are required to get.
"We have to follow by the state health guidelines. They have to have a permit if they're going to do the lemonade stands," Overton Police Chief Clyde Carter said.
Texas House Bill 970 does not allow the sale of food that needs time or temperature control to prevent it from spoiling. Since lemonade needs to be refrigerated to prevent bacteria growth, police said the girls needed a health department inspection and $150 permit to run their stand.
"I think that's ridiculous. I think they're 7 and 8, and they're just trying to make money for their own cause," Sandi Evans, the girls' mother, said.
Evans said they went to the city to get a Peddler's Permit, but found out the lemonade stand would have to be inspected and licensed by the Rusk County Health Department.
"Once we found out everything we would have to go through, we just decided to stop technically selling the lemonade. The girls are still going to have the stand, but they're just going to ask for donations instead," Evans said.
The girls have received support and donations from the community after their lemonade stand was shut down.
"We received free passes to Splash Kingdom, where the girls wanted to take their dad for Father's Day.
"We got them from the owners of the theme park and then again from a radio station.
"We do have so many positives coming out of this, and since I don't feel right keeping the money now that they got their dad's gift for free, we're going to give away the extra tickets and set up scholarships with the donations they've collected.
"We're going to give the scholarship to a local graduating high school senior majoring in business management," Evans said.
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