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Police shut down 8-year-old girl’s lemonade stand after Ohio food festival organizers complained she didn’t have a license (but cops offered her $20 to help her buy one)
- Police got a tip from a festival organizer and shut down a girl’s lemonade stand
- Asa Baker, 8, was selling without a license at the Ohio food festival last weekend
- The officer gave her $20 to apply for a license, but she was still short so set up outside a friend’s business, with police promising to leave the new stall alone
- She has now raked in hundreds of dollars, drawing in sympathetic customers
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Police got a tip from a festival organizer and shut down an eight-year-old girl’s lemonade stand
Police received a complaint from festival organizers about an eight-year-old girl selling lemonade at the Ohio food festival and promptly shut down her stall.
Asa Baker was selling the lemonade for $1 a glass near where her father works in Alliance over the weekend when the officer approached her.
They’d received a tip from a member of the public, and decided to shut her down.
The officer gave $20 to Baker, which they said was to use for the purchase of a permit.
‘Well, they were really sad that they had to shut me down but they gave me $20 to try and pay for it,’ Baker told Fox News.
But a vending license costs $40, said Asa’s mother, leaving the little girl short of the total amount needed for the five-day permit.
Asa Baker, 8, was selling the lemonade for $1 a glass near where her father works in Alliance over the weekend when the officer approached her
Alliance Police Lieutenant Don Wensel said police are not targeting children selling lemonade, but city ordinance requires vendors to obtain a license before selling anything at the food festival.
The festival organizers had ben conflicted about asking filing the complaint, he added.
‘I could definitely tell he did not want to shut her down, but, I mean, you get a call, he has to do it,’ said Katrina Moore, Asa’s mother.
‘He definitely did the right thing, you know, in the situation he was put in.’
On Friday however, Baker’s lemonade stand was up and running again.
The officer gave her $20 to apply for a license, but she was still short so set up outside a friend’s business, with police promising to leave the new stall alone
She had set up shop in front of local business owner Eric Strata, with police saying they would not interfere.
‘He (the officer) had to do his job, but it just felt so unjust to me because she’s 8, she’s just an innocent little girl that wants to be motivated and wants to do something with herself. Why shut that down?’ said Strata.
Baker has raked in hundreds of dollars, WJW-TV reported, drawing in customers sympathetic with her story.
Over 50 people donated, raising well over $200, according to a Facebook post from the family.
MailOnline asked for permission to use photos of Asa Baker from family members.