When you’re 12 years old and looking to raise some cash, your avenues are naturally limited.

But there are some old standbys that kids have long relied on, like selling lemonade on a hot summer’s day.

Just don’t forget that business license.

Friends Alex Pedersen and Mackenzie Burke Sikorra learnt that lesson the hard way last Wednesday when the 12-year-old entrepreneurs had their lemonade and popcorn stand unceremoniously shut down by a bylaw officer in Port Coquitlam, they say.

The pals were selling lemonade for a buck, popcorn for $5 – and even some dog treats for just 75 cents – to help Burke Sikorra’s soccer team raise money for uniforms.

They set up a couple of stools and table at Shaughnessy Park, which is popular with dog-walkers, at 10 a.m. on a bright summer’s day. The kids say they set up their stand just inside the wooden fence of the park’s entrance, but remained outside of the off-leash dog area, which specifies no food allowed.

Business was brisk until things turned sour at about 3 p.m. when a bylaw officer stopped by the kids’ table.

“He said “˜I hate to be a pain in the butt, but you have to pack up because you don’t have a business license,’” says Burke Sikorra.

“I felt mad at the city because it’s not very nice trying to shut down some kids trying to sell lemonade,” adds Pedersen.

Barb Pedersen, his mother, said she was surprised and disappointed at the city’s decision.

“I was just very surprised and a little disappointed that they’d quash two young boys’ ingenuity,” she said.

Coun. Glenn Pollock says the city probably would’ve “looked the other way,” except it received a complaint from a resident, who described the lemonade and food stand as “elaborate” with a table, two stools and an umbrella. As a result of the complaint, the bylaw officer had to act, said Pollock.

Pollock’s understanding of the incident is that it wasn’t so much about getting a business license, but that there is no vending allowed in any of the city’s parks, except for one fish and chip stand which has a temporary restaurant license.

“PoCo’s a wonderful place, we’re not that overbearing and we don’t want to seem like that. But it was a complaint from a resident so the bylaw guy had to react,” said Pollock.

The incident follows a similar script to what happened to seven-year-old Julie Murphy, who was selling lemonade at a state fair in Northeast Portland, Oregon, on July 29 when health inspectors shut her down, telling her mother she needed a temporary restaurant license, which costs $120, according to the Oregonian newspaper.

Murphy was inspired to set up a lemonade stand after watching an episode of a cartoon pig, Olivia, doing the same thing, her mother told the paper.

After widespread media coverage, the Multnomah county health department apologized to the little girl and her mother, saying their health inspectors took their job a little too seriously.

lsin@theprovince.com