Summertime CEOs

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, July 11, 2023

There’s nothing like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day, and a few area youngsters flexed their entrepreneurial skills over the weekend by opening their own drink stands.

Harper Burrough, 10, is visiting her aunt from Tennessee. She opened her stand on Witty Mill Road in Elkmont and gave customers an option between lemonade and strawberry-lemonade made with freshly squeezed lemons and strawberries. Each cup of lemonade cost just 50 cents.

“I did a lemonade stand in third grade for class, and it was really fun. I’ve been wanting to do one again, so my aunt said I could do one at her house. Then, I blew up on Facebook. People wanted more lemonade, and I have lots of customers,” Burrough said.

Burrough first opened her lemonade stand last Wednesday, with help from her mom, Christina Riordan, and little sister, Joshlynn Riordan. Business was a bit slow, but that all changed when one special customer stopped for a glass of lemonade.

“A girl, I guess her account is, ‘What’s Happening in Athens,’ and she came. She was really nice, and I told her, ‘You are my first customer! I am glad someone actually stopped.’ She thought that was actually really cool. When she got home, she posted it on Facebook, and it got all over. People were wanting more lemonade and kept driving by,” Harper said.

By the time word spread on social media, Burrough had closed her stand and left to visit her friend. She made the decision to open her stand again Saturday, and business had been steady until storms came. She planned on staying outside with her stand until it was time to go to her grandma’s house.

Burrough plans on saving some of her earnings and using the rest to buy supplies for future lemonade stands.

“I want to make sure I do one before school starts,” she said.

In Athens, sisters Bella and Bailey Gatlin opened a lemonade stand on Elkton Street Saturday in hopes of earning enough money for a trip to the Birmingham Zoo to see Bella’s favorite — giraffes.

Bella, 9, and Bailey, 6, offered customers both regular and pink lemonade. Bella said she did most of the work and talked to all the customers while Bella was in charge of putting ice in the cups.

Bella and Bailey’s parents, Bruce and Jennifer Gatlin, are planning a yard sale soon, and the girls plan to open a lemonade stand that day. They hope to add popsicles and ice cream to the menu.