Thirst | Lemonade, much more than a drink

A thirst-quenching drink par excellence, lemonade evokes summer, heat, and sunshine. Over the past century, it has also become a symbol of entrepreneurship and success. While waiting to drink a glass on a terrace, we dissect, for pleasure, its different facets.

A first step in entrepreneurship

The recipe is tested and approved. Prices are fixed. The poster is drawn. Tristan Dumais, 8 years old, is ready. This Saturday 1^er June, like more than 8,000 young people in the province, he participated in The Great Day for Small Entrepreneurs. If last year he sold popcorn, this year he’s making… lemonade. “It’s really easy,” he says to justify his decision. And then, he knows that it is a drink that people really like, since his brother Arthur, 7 years old, sold it last year.

Indeed, lemonade is very popular during the event, confirms Mathieu Ouellet. In 2014, he co-founded this day during which young people aged 5 to 17 are invited to set up their own business in front of their residence or in one of the markets organized for the occasion. “The children know that lemonade is made well, that it’s not too complicated and that it’s attractive,” he says. Often, they will sell another product, such as muffins, jewelry or greeting cards, at the same time as this lemon drink, notes Mathieu Ouellet. Other projects are more out of the ordinary. A child has already organized a ninja course, he gives as an example.

A learning tool

Last year, Tristan and Arthur raised around a hundred dollars thanks to their kiosk. Their goal this time? “I’m trying to accumulate $75 to have a video game,” explains the boy from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. “It taught them the meaning of money. […] Before, children would sometimes tell us: “You just have to take out your card.” It’s not infinite, my card,” remarks their mother, Anik Valcourt. Running a lemonade stand (or any other product) allows small business owners to learn a lot, underlines Mathieu Ouellet. And not just math concepts. “It gives them self-confidence, it improves their sense of responsibility […]it teaches them to communicate well,” he says.

Visit the website of The big day for small entrepreneurs

American influence

When did the first lemonade stands appear in Quebec? At the end of the 1970s, estimates culinary historian Michel Lambert. Quebecers, thousands of whom traveled to the United States during the “flower power” period, were influenced by the daily lives of Americans. “In addition to music, there are lots of eating habits that have become part of our customs,” he emphasizes. At the time, young Americans had already been selling lemonade for decades to earn a little money in the summer. The first mention of this practice in the pages of New York Times dates back to July 1880. “This cheap lemonade business has greatly developed in New York,” we can read. The image of the small entrepreneur selling lemonade has been built over the years through children’s books, television shows, classroom exercises and advertising, points out author and professor Robert W. Sexty, in a article published on the educational site Children & Youth in History. To support its point, the text is accompanied by an advertising page published in the magazine life in 1947.

A refreshment first and foremost

However, it was not the Americans who invented lemonade, far from it. According to various sources, including the United States Library of Congress website, lemon-based drinks have been found as far back as ancient Egypt. In New France, the fruit was first imported in the form of candied lemon, explains historian Michel Lambert. Later, in the middle of the 19th century^e century, we begin to drink what is similar to today’s lemonade. The peasants, who were hot in summer when they made hay, fetched very cold water from the stream and added cut lemons to it. “Because lemon was a fairly expensive fruit, the poorest people replaced it with cider vinegar,” explains Michel Lambert.

An object of controversy

This has happened numerous times in the United States, but also on this side of the border, notably in Ottawa in 2016: police officers demanded the closure of lemonade stands run by children. Such installations sometimes contravene municipal regulations, which vary from city to city. In Longueuil, for example, regulations do not allow this type of kiosks on private land. However, a “tolerance approach” is practiced if no complaint is made, indicates the City. In Laval, these ephemeral installations are encouraged. “These allow children to organize a great fun activity allowing them to learn how to manage an inventory, keep a small cash register and, at the same time, offer good customer service,” underlines its spokesperson, Jonathan Lévesque. In Montreal, each borough has its own regulations. In Ville-Marie, for example, this activity is possible without a permit.

An optimistic vision

If your municipality forces your children to dismantle their lemonade stand, you can always tell them: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. » This famous quote, attributed to both the writer Elbert Green Hubbard as well as the speaker and author Dale Carnegie, invites people to turn an unfortunate situation into an opportunity, to make the best of adversity. This phrase – and different variations – has often been used in popular culture, notably on the album Lemonade by Beyoncé.

Tristan’s lemonade

Fancy a big glass of lemonade? Here is the recipe from young Tristan Dumais.

Ingredients

• 4 lemons
• 1 cup of sugar
• 5 cups of very cold water

Preparation

• 1. Cut the lemons in half. Over a bowl, press them to extract the juice.
• 2. Pass the resulting juice through a sieve.
• 3. Pour into a pitcher. Add the water and sugar. Mix.