Ritchot’s Sweetest Lemonade Stand is back for third year
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This article was published 17/08/2025 (211 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Coming back for its third year is Ritchot’s Sweetest Lemonade Stand contest which sees youth entrepreneurs battle it out on who makes the best lemonade.
“I have to stop at every single lemonade stand,” said Mayor Chris Ewen. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed a lemonade stand when I see one I’ll even turn around on the middle of a highway just to make sure that I can support these kids just because I’ve always been passionate about…running a small business.”
Ewen’s passion for entrepreneurship is evident with his own business Perk Events and Perk Coffee Bar, which is now a national company. It was Ewen’s idea to create the lemonade stand contest and with the approval of council and a partnership with Community Futures that brought the idea to fruition.
“They’re making a little bit of money and they’re working hard. They’re not inside playing video games, they’re not in their house being bored. They’re getting out and they’re building a little bit of something over the summer just to make an extra buck and I love that about kids and I love the enthusiasm they have for lemonade stands.”
Last year, there were about 15 teams spread out across Ritchot that participated in the contest from as young as five to as old as 17.
“The creativity they all had from their different generations was pretty inspiring to me,” said Ewen.
And creative they were. Some stands had traditional lemonade, which is Ewen’s favourite, but some were influenced by the family’s culture such as a lemonade made with the flavours of East India.
“I think for the community they’re seeing the investments that our council wants to put in and our municipality wants to put into friends and families being community leaders by setting up lemonade stands,” said Ewen. “I think (that’s the) kind of ground level inspiration that we all need. We want to be a part of the community, how can we do that? Let’s start by doing lemonade stands and bringing our neighbours together and buying a 25-cent cup of lemonade.”
Judges will rate booths on design, customer service, offerings, and the colour, taste, and price of the lemonade.
Booths will be set up from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 21 in St Adolphe/Howden, Ste Agathe, Ile des Chenes, and Grande Pointe. Winners from each community will receive $200 with an additional $300 going towards the overall winner.