Enterprising boys earn $50 selling lemonade
For many boys, summertime is time off to enjoy lazy afternoons exploring the woods, sports leagues or video games in the air-conditioning, but four Canton Academy friends saw dollar signs in a lemonade stand they set up outside the Canton Country Club last week.
Brothers Ian and Stratton Choppala and their friends and neighbors Daniel Spivey and Rhett Hale started with $6 to buy supplies. By last Thursday afternoon, they had made $50 in sales of lemonade and tips.
Shortly after noon the boys were offering two varieties of lemonade, pink and regular at $1 a cup or $1.50 for two.
They set up a table and their coolers at the entrance to the Club — just in time for the Rotary Club to be wrapping up, as it would happen. They all pitched in with mixing the lemonade and sales.
“We all whipped it up,” Spivey said.
They had hand-made signs advertising to motorists.
The boys all claimed to a reporter they were 15, but only a four-wheeler was present and they, well, could have stepped out of an episode of “Beevis and Butthead” with their carrying on.
But the boys were polite, thanking one Rotarian who turned around to buy a cup.
Ian Choppala said that the idea grew from boredom after school at Canton Academy let out. Spivey said someone mentioned the idea and it quickly caught on.
“I just remember someone said something about a lemonade stand I thought that sounded fun,” Spivey said.
“And we wanted to make some money,” Stratton Choppala added.
When asked what their goals were, a variety of numbers came tumbling out ranging from a few hundred dollars to numbers in the five-figure range. They aren’t even sure what the money will be spent on.
“We don’t really have a goal we just want to make some money,” Hale said.
In their free time, the boys have a variety of pastimes, though Ian Choppala said his mind has been racing to various business ventures and other ways to make some money this summer.
His brother, Stratton Chappala, said his “real passion” lately has been tennis.
Spivey and Hale like to spend their time coming up with pranks, large and small.
They had not nailed down operating hours or the days they plan to be out there, though Stratton Choppala did say that they planned to be out there the next day they would be looking at an "every other day" schedule likely on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.