Colorado HOA calls cops on kids’ lemonade stand to get ‘illegal’ operation shut down

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A homeowners association in Colorado called the local sheriff’s office earlier this month on a group of children who set up a lemonade stand. Authorities say that HOA members first summoned police due to reports of “children running an illegal lemonade stand on county right of way.” When the sheriff’s deputies arrived, they “found that the children were not blocking the roadway but did ask them to move back from the road a few feet for their safety.” Thinking the matter was resolved, the officers then moved on to other calls about parking issues in the area, only to head back to the scene of the stand when the “original reporting parties came out and began yelling at the children claiming they were on private property.” As the refreshment row reached fever pitch, the officers discovered that the children running the stand themselves lived within the HOA and that the lemonade pushers “had a right to be there” on the association’s communally held property, leaving the wayward youths to continue their street war against scurvy. In 2018, the Denver Police Department shut down a lemonade stand being run by three boys near an arts festival across the street from their house. The story inspired Governor Jared Polis to sign a law the following year, allowing children to run lemonade stands and other “occasional” businesses without a license.