Local inventor, entrepreneur and Lemonade Day champion Scott Jones, representatives from local businesses and community groups kicked off the Lemonade Day 2014 season recently a Flat 12 Bierwerks. The event featured a special lemon brew and bottled lemonade from BeeSweet Lemonade, a company started by a Lemonade Day participant in Austin Texas.
Presented by Teachers Credit Union, Ice Miller and ChaCha, Lemonade Day is a free initiative that introduces kids in grades K-12 to “hands on” entrepreneurship by teaching them how to start, own and operate their own business: a lemonade stand. Kids will set up their lemonade stands on Lemonade Day, set for May 17, all over the nine-county region. Last year, 20,000 Indianapolis-area kids registered for Lemonade Day.
This year, Indianapolis breaks new ground as the first Lemonade Day city in the country to “go green” by giving children access to a web-based interactive workbook with lessons around starting their lemonade businesses. Kids will register online via the Lemonade Day Indianapolis web site and will then be sent a link to the web-based workbook. As in previous years, kids can participate in other workshops and contests in April and early May to supplement what they are learning through the workbook. Like last year, kids also have the opportunity to apply for “start-up capital” for their lemonade businesses through the Lemonade Day Seed Fund.
“The biggest change this year is that we’re piloting this new web-based Lemonade Day workbook. We’re proud to be the only Lemonade Day city in the country to ‘go green’ and shift from printed materials to web-based,” said entrepreneur Scott Jones. “Michael Holthouse, the Houston-based Lemonade Day founder, sees Indianapolis as a shining star and chose us to pilot this new model. We think it’s going to be a great experience for kids.”
“The Lemonade Day program teaches children valuable personal and professional skills,” said Mayor Greg Ballard. “I am glad to see Indy emerge as a green energy leader through this program and look forward to our seeing our future business leaders learn the value of green technology in the business world.”
