IF NCC GIVES YOU LEMONS...
Back in business after apology
The National Capital Commission issued an apology on Monday afternoon to a father and his two little girls after the organization shut down their kid-run lemonade stand for operating without a permit on NCC land.
The stand, run by Eliza and Adela Andrews, ages seven and five, was shut down at around 11 a.m. on Sunday after it was discovered they hadn’t filed the necessary paperwork.
“We had no idea we had to get a permit,” said the girls’ dad, Kurtis Andrews. “But I suppose that was a bit naïve.”
The NCC met with Andrews and his two daughters Monday morning to both apologize and accept the family’s official permit application.
Eliza and Adela set up shop on a patch of NCC-owned land along a median on Colonel By Drive. It made for an ideal location, said Andrews, because it’s only open to pedestrians and cyclists on Sundays.
“Location is everything,” he said, explaining the traffic would mean a good customer base for his girls, who were trying to raise money for summer camp.
But, after only about an hour of hawking ice-cold lemonade, a junior conservation officer with the NCC arrived and shut down the operation.
Eliza and Adela, who made $52 in sales, said the sudden closure left them both feeling sad.
“I really like selling lemonade. I’d be happy if I could go back,” Eliza said, “just for a little longer this time.”
After CBC first reported the story on Sunday, online outrage (mostly humorous) ensued, somewhat to the surprise of the girls’ mom, Lara Andrews.
“It broke the Internet over night,” she said. “You wake up and it’s like #lemonadegate.”
The NCC changed its tune on Monday as the coverage grew. Following the meeting with the family, the NCC issued a written statement, apologizing for the inconvenience it had caused.
And while the NCC said the junior conservation officer who disbanded the girls’ lemonade stand acted in good faith and upheld the rules as they’re written, in this instance the organization said, “we believe the situation could have been handled differently.
“Children’s lemonade stands are a time-honoured summer tradition that contribute to a lively capital and the NCC wants to encourage these activities whenever possible,” the statement continued.
The NCC said the girls’ permit application would be expedited through the process.
“We were pleased to expedite that application, so that they can set up this weekend,” said Nicholas Galletti the NCC’s director of communications.
Galletti wouldn’t acknowledge whether the media storm over lemonadegate had anything to do with the decision to expedite the permit application, but did say their main concern was the girls’ safety.
The location for their stand may change, he said, but if the girls want to set up shop on NCC property Sunday, they are free to do so.
When the girls were asked if they were excited to get back to selling lemonade, the answer was simple: “Yes!”
It didn’t take long for the video of a dancing police officer in downtown Ottawa on Canada Day to go viral. The crowds smiled and clapped, and some people danced along. What great PR for the Ottawa police.
Just a few days later, a different local authority was also putting on the moves — this time to public disapproval. A conservation officer with the National Capital Commission shut down the elaborate lemonade stand run by two entrepreneurial young sisters at Colonel By Drive and Echo Drive because they didn’t have a permit.
The NCC has quickly, and rightly, apologized to Eliza Andrews, 7, and Adela Andrews, 5, for putting the squeeze on their efforts to fundraise for summer camp, saying “the situation could have been handled differently. Children’s lemonade stands are a time-honoured summer tradition that contributes to a lively capital and the NCC wants to encourage these activities whenever possible.” Instead, the agency briefly turned lemonade into lemons.
Small-scale initiatives and government bureaucracy have an uneasy relationship, to say the least. If a regulation or bylaw exists, government employees tend to enforce it. Better safe than sorry, a junior officer might feel, as happened in this case. As also happens when spontaneous street hockey games get shut down. Where precautionary rules exist for minor activities, they mostly end up trumping common sense.
But not always. Ottawa’s dancing cop, Tracey Turpin, had pretty important duties on Canada Day yet understood that a little levity, even from someone wearing a uniform, can do a lot to perk up a sweltering crowd. With a bit of instruction from videographer Yves Soglo on Rideau Street, she showed off some smooth salsa and hip-hop moves. And though she lost her hat briefly, she didn’t lose her head. Here’s betting the officer was keeping her eyes on the street even as she executed an elegant dip with her partner.
But back to the kids. It’s worth pointing out that their lemonade stand was a pretty solid affair, not just a wagon or a cardboard box with an umbrella propped atop it. Planning went into the operation, which probably taught them some good lessons. It’s just that no adult involved in that planning thought about the inevitable government red tape that swaddles activities in Ottawa.
In the end, it looks like there will be a happy outcome. A local restaurant offered the family space to sell the girls’ wares if needed. The NCC backtracked swiftly after the initial shutdown. The children will likely have their lemonade-stand permit in time for next weekend.
And we wager many Ottawans will stroll or cycle past, in search of a lemonade stand — or a dancing cop.