Oregon Girl Not Bitter After Lemonade Stand Controversy, Allowed To Sell Again

PORTLAND, Ore. — After a county inspector squeezed out a kid's lemonade business, so many Oregonians puckered up in disgust that the county chairman had to pour on a little sugar.

The apology sweetened up some sour feelings and made 7-year-old Julie Murphy eligible to resume selling her Kool-Aid and water concoction for 50 cents a cup.

Last week at a local arts fair, Julie and her mother were surprised when a county inspector asked to see their restaurant license.

They didn't have one. The inspector told them they would face a fine of up to $500 if they didn't stop selling lemonade.

Other vendors urged Julie and her mother not to leave. A second inspector arrived and the two inspectors were surrounded by a crowd of vendors supporting Julie and her mother.

Ultimately, Julie and her mother packed up the stand, and as Julie left the fair she was crying.

But Julie has prevailed.

Jeff Cogen, chairman of Multnomah County, says the health inspectors were "just following the rule book" but they should have given the girl and her mom a break. On Thursday, he talked with Julie's mom to apologize.

"A lemonade stand is a classic, iconic American kid thing to do," Cogen told The Oregonian. "I don't want to be in the business of shutting that down."

And how does Julie feel about this?

Her mother, Maria Fife, said she and her daughter appreciates the apology.

But the sweet and sour tale of lemonade stands at the Portland art fair might not yet be over.

According to the Oregonian, one vendor at the local arts fair is planning a "lemonade revolt" the next time the fair is held – later this month.

Cogen says he doesn't know what he'll do if a bunch of fair vendors try selling lemonade without a license.

As it turns out, lemons may present county officials with something of a pickle.

Comments

[Elamdri]

04:58 PM on 08/15/2010

Oh my god, how can people FAIL this badly. Threatening a little girl selling lemonade a $500 fine if she doesn't have a restaurant license? Talk about following the rules a little too closely.

[WayOutHere]

01:29 PM on 08/13/2010

This could have been handled MUCH better by the inspectors involved. A smile for Julie, and a quiet word in Mom's ear... "As strange as it sounds, you need a licence to sell that lemon-aid. This week it's ok, we can see that there isn't much of a safety threat here, but if you guys want to come back, you really will need to get a licence. Ok? That's just the way the law is written."

[eepah]

05:57 PM on 08/10/2010

Interestingly, this took place in Oregon, where citizens' lack of trust in the government/establishment exists regardless of party affiliation. That kid's going to grow up being even more anti-establishment than the other Oregonian kids.

Agreed-- selling food without a license in public sets a bad precedent, but this could have been handled much more diplomatically by very quietly addressing the parents, not embarrassing a 7 yr-old kid to leave crying.

[sj user1]

01:34 PM on 08/10/2010

There is also a liablity issue. Any commercial food vendor would have to pass inspection and carry liability insurance. Who would be liable if someone got sick? While it is unlikely that someone would get sick from lemonade; what if a child was also selling undercooked or spoiled hot dogs? Also, any parent could just run their "business" with their children as a front and bypass all local, state, and federal laws. Just playing devil's advocate but there has to be a line somewhere.

[Elamdri]

05:00 PM on 08/15/2010

That's a really slippery slope you're walking down from a little girl selling lemonade to parents using children as front men to sell spoiled hotdogs as a way to bypass local food safety laws.

[Sita001]

12:05 PM on 08/16/2010

THIS child sold ONLY lemonade. Your dark musings about parents selling tainted meat from child fronts is paranoid and you are crossing the line of sensibility 'just playing devil's advocate'

[esgabel]

08:42 AM on 08/10/2010

on the face it looks like an overzealous bureaucrat strikes again...but this child set up shop where others , in order to sell lemonade, had to get licenses...now could it have been handled a bit differently...possibly but the little girl's lemonade stand did not belong there...and it sets precedent for others to set up stands without paying attention to licensing and food safety...

[newtom]

04:00 PM on 08/09/2010

A follow-up article reports the two inspectors are now stealing candy from babies.

Tose who cannot handle authority should not be given any.

[grlbhvingbadly]

03:25 PM on 08/09/2010

I think a lot of effort could be spent investigating parabens and sodium lauryl sulfate in our products. Not too worried about being protected from a 7 year old.

[eepah]

05:50 PM on 08/10/2010

Fanned.

[ghee99]

05:06 AM on 08/09/2010

ha ha!

the liberal nanny state gets shamed into doing the right thing (for once)

although, if you think this little girl had it bad, you should see what these local liberal inspectors, bureaucracies do to small businesses (in most cases just to try to squeeze even more money from the productive sector, into the do-nothing-of-value govt sector)

if it werent for the hard working entrepreneurship of the american small businessman or woman (in spite of such govt intrusions) there wouldnt be any small businesses left at all

[PlayTOE]

07:14 AM on 08/09/2010

Where did you get the idea that these inspectors were LIBERAL?
I suspect you just made that up.

(references and link please)

[ZenBastard]

02:42 PM on 08/09/2010

I concur. Where exactly did you get the idea that this has anything to do with being liberal?

[puzzled500]

03:27 PM on 08/09/2010

Ghee wiz--Everyone Ghee doesn't agree with is a liberal.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

01:59 AM on 08/09/2010

Ridiculous.

[DMSmith]

12:27 AM on 08/09/2010

Let's be accurate. It seems this was a Kool-Aid stand, and was in a regulated public event.

[cookerman45]

08:51 PM on 08/08/2010

shut her down

[adamleyrer]

07:59 PM on 08/08/2010

Not a "local arts fair"; a twenty-block street festival, full of people who've invested in advertising the event and paid for necessary permits for business AND food handling safety certification. Letting a parent use her precocious seven year old to circumvent the public health code is a foolish precedent to set. Sell lemonade on the sidewalk in front of your house. If you want to benefit from the free advertising of a city-wide attraction, then pay to learn the health and safety rules; it could be a great learning experience for your child, in contradistinction to the current lesson being taught: whine until you get an exception from the rules for everyone else.

[grlbhvingbadly]

03:21 PM on 08/09/2010

Lighten up. 0.25 for a cup of lemonade is hurting whom exactly?

[adamleyrer]

08:24 PM on 08/09/2010

There are multiple taco vendors in Portland that make appearances at these street festivals; sometimes they are family-operated and often charge less than two dollars for a taco. However, having a child behind the counter or charging pocket change does not eliminate the threat of food poisoning; I still want the family to learn the rules for safe food handling.
I'm just unclear on the exact qualifications of the requested exemption; because the public face of the sale is cute? Exempt the family taco cart. Because the item is cheap? No licence required for selling drinks or trinkets. Because the potential for spoiled or infected food is minimal or non-existent? Vegan vendors sell for free.
I am only taking this matter as seriously as a mother who drove in from out of town to make some money at a public event. I know plenty of starving artists or struggling food vendors who would love to have their fees waived, with reasonable exemptions easily coming to mind.
From a parenting, rather than a public, perspective, this was an opportunity to learn a little about food, fairness, and accountability, and the mother missed it.

[grlbhvingbadly]

03:22 PM on 08/09/2010

Or 0.50. I'm must going off the 25 I see in the pic.

[oldgraymare]

07:50 PM on 08/08/2010

KoolAide and water masquerading as "lemonade"?? Whatever happened to "truth in advertising"? they should be selling "Lemonade flavored drink"! (and before gazillions of you verbally flog me, I'm all in favor of kids having Lemonade stands, etc.....just sad that its hard to find the real thing anymore - even in a restaurant!!) My daughter found a whole bag of rubber bands on the street when she was 8, and I let her set up a table in our front yard so she could sell her "Robber Bands" (as spelled on the placard).....everyone driving by thought it was hilarious and she sold every one of those robber bands. :-)

[Tarackian]

07:47 PM on 08/08/2010

If you sell Lemonade in America without a license, the terrorists win.

[tjconkster]

10:03 PM on 08/08/2010

And Wall Street loses...

[c-tom]

07:17 PM on 08/08/2010

It would be great for the county if 100 or so vendors had a lemonade revolt. 100 X $500 = $50,000 that would more than pay for the health inspectors policing a street fair.