Celebrating the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Rochester’s Youth

A sweet day of success for youth on Lemonade Day!

Remember the days when people asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Many of you answered, “I want to start my own business” or “I want to be an entrepreneur and invent something.”

Today, more and more Rochester-area youth are being given the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be a full-fledged entrepreneur through Lemonade Day, a nationwide experiential learning program, which teaches local youth entrepreneurial and life skills as they learn how to start their very own business.

Lemonade Day is a free, fun, experiential learning program that teaches local youth entrepreneurial and life skills as they learn how to start their very own business. “They learn how to develop a business and experience all the aspects of developing and maintaining a business such as creating a product, establishing a budget, designing a marketing plan, and so much more,” Ally Sheehan, events and program director at the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce and Lemonade Day city director says.

Each participant receives a free entrepreneur workbook and a mentor guide that helps walk them through the process. Leading up to Lemonade Day, which took place this year on Saturday, June 10, participants followed along in a workbook and explored lessons that helped them make decisions about their business.

The money they made from their stand was theirs to keep – allowing them to determine if they wanted to spend their profit, save their profit, and/or share some of their profit with a charity of their choice. Some participants even chose to do a little bit of all three.

“This is the second year for Lemonade Day in the Rochester community and wow, what a sweet success it was,” Sheehan says. There were over 450 registered participants, which was a huge increase from the Chamber’s first Lemonade Day in 2022.

“We are very excited that it is becoming a program that people want to be a part of year to year," Sheehan says. "Participants are already saying how excited they are for next year and what they will do different with their lemonade, stand, and marketing,”

This year, Molly and Nolan Reynolds, a brother-sister duo, developed their idea for “Molly and Nolan’s Rainbow LeMoNaid.”

“We wanted to give people different flavors of lemonade that looked good and tasted good,” Molly says. “Since Lemonade Day took place in Pride Month, we also thought rainbow colors were a way that our lemonade stand could help people by making a donation to the Trevor Project from our sales,” adds Nolan. The Trevor Project is a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ+ youth. “It was fun to meet so many new people,” Molly says. “We liked getting to talk with people about our lemonade stand and letting them taste our different flavors and tell us their favorite.”

Nolan added that the siblings found creating the different recipes for their flavors to be the most challenging aspect of their product. “We made lemonade, lime lemonade, blueberry lemonade and strawberry lemonade, and each flavor took a lot of testing and tasting with our ingredients,” he says.

The Reynolds’ stand epitomizes what Lemonade Day is all about – evaluating product concepts, testing ideas, and interacting with others who can provide their feedback on a lemonade product’s appeal.

As Lemonade Day City Director, Sheehan’s favorite part about orchestrating Lemonade Day from year to year is visiting the same stands as last year and seeing how the participants transformed their stands from a table with just lemonade the first year, to a fully constructed stand with lemonade, handmade crafts, and a few snacks to sell as well.

“Not only does this program help young entrepreneurs on starting their own business," Sheehan says. "It really brings together the community for a fun day of purchasing lemonade from over 80+ stands on Lemonade Day.”

2023 Rochester MN Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Congratulations Aditi!

Of course, the Rochester’s Lemonade Day couldn’t happen without the strong support from the Chamber and community businesses, including the following:

• Main Squeeze Sponsor – Think Bank

• Fresh Squeeze Sponsor – Altra Federal Credit Union, Hy-vee, Mayo Clinic

• Lemon Drop Sponsor – Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester Athletic Club, SCHEELS, Wings Credit Union, Workshop Food Hall & Bar

• Lemon Twist Sponsor – Chip Shots, F & M Community Bank, Home Federal, MetroNet, People’s Food Coop, People’s Energy Cooperative, Rochester Women’s Magazine, Sylvan Learning

• Radio Media Sponsor – Townquare Media

• Media Sponsor – KTTC

“Lemonade Day was a fantastic opportunity for kids to learn about and practice entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Equipping the next generation to be moneysavvy is something we feel strongly about at Think, so serving as the Main Squeeze sponsor of this event was a perfect fit for us,” says Megan Malugani, vice president of corporate communications at Think Bank. “Plus, our employees and their kids ‘squeezed the day’ and had a blast holding lemonade stands. It was a wonderful day and we are so happy the Chamber brought this program to our community!”

The Lemonade Day team is looking forward to year three and the hope is continued growth for years to come. “This program is all about the youth and helping them take a concept to execution on the day of Lemonade Day,” says save the date for the next Lemonade Day on Saturday, June 8, 2024!

Sheehan, who will be attending the national Lemonade Day City Director Conference where she will meet other city directors from across the world to gain knowledge, brainstorm new ideas, and hear how other communities elevate their Lemonade Day.

Sheehan says she is looking forward to this conference and bringing back the ideas to implement for the years ahead!