Welcome back to Good Life, a newsletter about navigating our modern culture and staying sane in the process. This weekend, we discuss how one little lemonade stand reminds us that America’s story continues after 250 years.
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The Washington Post ran a story about three young brothers living in rural Michigan who were taking part in a time-honored American tradition but were blocked by regulations and state bureaucracy until they decided to take a stand.
Ethan Mielke, 13, Seth Mielke, 11, and Jonathan Mielke, 8, had spent three summers running “Triple M Goods,” their modest lemonade stand at the local farmers’ market. They sold homemade lemonade for 50 cents to adults and 10 cents to kids. As you can imagine, their profits were not life-changing. At the end of each summer, the three brothers walked away with about $100 to $200 each. Still, it was their first foray into entrepreneurship, a bedrock of American culture.
Then, midway through last summer, the rules changed when their local farmer’s market had a change in management. The boys learned that they would need a temporary food-service permit from the local health department to continue running their lemonade stand, which would cost them $57 every two weeks.
Over a full season, which lasted from June through September, the brothers would have to pay $400 to operate Triple M Goods. This meant almost all of their profits would go to paying for the permit. For most children, that would have been the end of it. The stand would have closed, another small American dream quietly shelved by unnecessary bureaucracy. But these brothers did something profoundly American and fought back against government overreach.
Their mother told the boys that they should contact their local state representative for help. The three brothers wrote letters to state Rep. Cam Cavitt and hand-delivered them to him at a local community coffee hour he hosted.
Cavitt told The Washington Post that the brothers made quite an impact on him and alerted him to an issue he had no idea was happening in his state.
“They were very well-mannered and polite, they had firm handshakes and looked me in the eyes,” he said.
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“I think it’s unfair,” he said. “This is a lemonade stand. We all grew up with lemonade stands.”
Cavitt could have easily brushed the kids off, but thankfully he didn’t. He sponsored House Bill 6007, legislation that would exempt minors selling non-alcoholic, non-refrigerated beverages from such permits, provided their annual earnings stayed under $5,000.
Despite being a “little bit uneasy,” the three brothers testified before the House Regulatory Reform Committee in Lansing, Michigan. They took turns describing their experience and explaining why protecting the lemonade stand was so important. The state House unanimously passed Cavitt’s bill, which is currently in the state Senate.
Their mother said the boys were eager to watch the House vote on the livestream at home.
“They were pretty excited,” she said. “It was a pretty neat experience for them to see how the process works when you have an idea or want a law changed.”
Cavitt is hopeful the bill will pass before the end of the lemonade season so the boys can get back to doing what they love, adding that this is proof that the system can work if Americans join in.