Your Kid’s Lemonade Stand is ILLEGAL In Michigan

When I was a kid, my sister was a serial lemonade stand seller. She would be out there pretty frequently selling lemonade for dirt cheap on a hot day inside our neighborhood to raise money for charity.

However, for some reason, some old woman was personally offended by my sister's lemonade stand and proceeded to inform her her stand was illegal and she had to stop selling or else. Imagine being such a hater that you shut down an innocent kid's lemonade stand.

But what's more shocking about that whole interaction is that the woman was actually right about the legality of that lemonade stand (though she is still in the wrong because who would do that?).

Lemonade Legal Limbo

Now that we've passed Memorial Day, the unofficial start of Summer, lemonade stand season will soon be in full swing. So, why exactly is a lemonade stand illegal in Michigan? It doesn't have anything to do with health concerns or safety concerns. Rather, it is a matter of having a permit to make sales. Yes, in the state of Michigan, you need to request a temporary food permit to sell lemonade.

The law surrounding lemonade stands is pretty vague, but Michigan isn't the only state with weird rules regarding lemonade stands. Lemonade stands usually follow the same guidelines as mobile food trucks since it is a temporary establishment.

Currently, lemonade stands are only legal in the following 14 states:

California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, Illinois, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut

In Michigan, if you want to host a lemonade stand whether for profit or not, you need that permit. There are overlapping rules and laws when it comes to the legality of a lemonade stand, so if you want to play things safe you can get a permit here, but the odds of you getting in real trouble for not is slim at best.