Lemonade stand girls reflect on 'most Ottawa story of all time' 10 years later

Ottawa's lemonade remain firm girls shine on NCC contestation 10 years later

It was a story of overzealous bureaucratism in a city famous for rules.

Two young girls in Ottawa told by a junior federal official to pack up their lemonade stand because they didn’t have a permit.

Ten years later, sisters Eliza and Adela Andrews still get a kick out of telling the story. They’ve even included it on their resumes.

“We’re still pretty proud of what we did in 2016,” said Eliza, now 17 and a graduate of Osgoode Township High School who plans to study science and history in New Brunswick. 

It was July 3 when a junior conservation officer with the National Capital Commission (NCC) told the Andrews sisters they needed to shut down the stand where they were selling lemonade for a dollar a glass next to Colonel By Drive during a Sunday Bikeday.

NCC shuts down kids' lemonade stand

After the news got out, public outcry grew into a social media firestorm for the NCC, which eventually apologized and invited the girls to set up their stand again with a permit and a bilingual sign.

“It was pretty crazy how we were able to have such an impact on our community. We were only five and seven at the time,” said Eliza.

Her younger sister Adela is a little foggier on the details from the time. She remembers someone telling her dad they had to leave and how the community came together afterward.

“I thought it was really cool that people stood up for us, even though the NCC tried to shut us down,” said the 15-year-old.

Tobi Nussbaum, the current CEO of the NCC, was a city councillor at the time. 

“It became a story because it had all of the key ingredients, right? Lemonade, children, summertime and a public organization… that is big and at times is imperfect,” he said.

“It was a mistake. They owned it and then they pivoted.”  

NCC scrambled to manage PR damage from 'heavy-handed' lemonade stand shutdown

The following year, the NCC started its young entrepreneurs program, inviting people between the ages of five and 17 to apply for free permits to run their own kiosks for parkways during bike days. 

“Hopefully, these are going to be budding business owners in 10 or 15 years,” Nussbaum said. 

A streamlined permitting process is a pretty Ottawa resolution to the situation.

“I think it’s the right balance between being totally ‘open door’ ... But also making sure that we’re being fair to existing leaseholders and existing business owners who are paying us some money for lease arrangements,” Nussbaum said. 

Eya Marks, 14, has been involved with the NCC's young entrepreneurs program for three years. This summer she’ll be setting up on Queen Elizabeth Driveway, across the canal from where the Andrews sisters were a decade ago.

She’s learned to track her expenses, keep her equipment clean and create her own job instead of having to apply for one. 

“Now that they have this program I’ve learned so many entrepreneur skills,” she said. “I can spend my time outside and meet new people. It’s good.”

Eya’s dad Lawrence Marks said she’s made $500 each summer with part of the proceeds going to Ottawa's children's hospital CHEO. 

Nussbaum at the NCC said the image of “the capital that fun forgot” no longer rings true, citing the commission’s work to animate the region’s shorelines, paths and parkways, alongside the work of other organizations in the city.

As for the protagonists of what was once deemed "the most Ottawa story of all time," the Andrews sisters have made the best of their brush with notoriety at a young age.

Eliza remembers the line of reporters waiting to talk with them outside their home and waking up early to hear themselves on the radio. She's even used the Radio-Canada version of their story for a presentation in French class.

"It’s just a pretty special experience. It was nice to be able to share with my sister," Eliza said.  

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