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 every day selling lemonade for dirt cheap on a hot day to raise money for charity.

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However, for some reason, some old woman was personally offended by my sister's lemonade stand and proceeded to inform her that 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 the lemonade stand (though she's still 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 has nothing to do with health 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.

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The law surrounding lemonade stands is pretty vague, but Michigan isn't the only state with weird rules regarding lemonade stands. Lemonade stands typically follow the same guidelines as mobile food trucks, as they are considered temporary establishments.

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 are slim at best.