Two young Ottawa sisters have turned a sour brush with the law into a sweet lesson in civic action.

The girls, whose $1-a-cup lemonade stand was shut down Sunday by the National Capital Commission (NCC) for lack of a permit, won an apology from the agency for its “overzealous” response and the promise of the prized paperwork in time for next weekend.

The David-and-Goliath drama captured the public’s heart and prompted a full public apology from NCC Monday on Twitter.

Eliza Andrews, 7, and Adela, 5, have — with help from their lawyer dad — turned a lemon of a run-in with red tape into political lemonade.

“They’ve learned you don’t accept a setback as being the end,” said Kurtis Andrews, whose daughters are fundraising to help pay for a beloved but pricey sleepover camp this summer.

“At the time they were disappointed and confused; they felt they must have done something wrong,” said Andrews. But by the time he and his young entrepreneurs arrived Monday at the NCC to apply for the permit — he had filled in the form and brought a $35 cheque — authorities had softened their tone.

“We apologized and said our junior conservation officer had been a little overzealous; a lemonade stand is the kind of thing we’ve been encouraging to animate the shoreline,” said the commission’s director of communications Nicholas Galetti. While he said the NCC does require a permit for the lemonade stand as part of a bid to keep track of activities across the federal grounds, there will be no charge and he will speed up the process.

“I’ll be first one there to buy a lemonade.”

The Andrews sisters already had held several lemonade sales on their lawn before deciding last weekend to relocate to the lucrative sweep of nearby Colonel By Drive along Ottawa’s Rideau Canal, which bans cars each Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for family-friendly Bike Days.

“It was one more business lesson: the importance of location, location, location,” said their father.

They opened at 10 a.m. with seven gallons of lemonade. Within an hour they had made $52 and business was picking up, when a passing NCC volunteer noticed the lemonade stand on a grassy median and asked to see the “event permit.”

They didn’t have one. Kurtis Andrews approached from his nearby post and asked which law they were violating. The volunteer summoned a junior conservation officer, who arrived in uniform in a National Capital Commission truck.

He stood fast. No permit, no lemonade stand.

“They were polite, but said we had to pack up and leave,” said Andrews. “For a couple of kids, it’s kind of intimidating, with the flashing lights and guy in black uniform.”

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The fuss also was drawing crowds, who took to social media in sympathy and the girls’ tip jar soon grew heavy with some $20 in donations, said Andrews. He asked if they could have time to pack up slowly, and the conservation officer agreed.

“I think enforcement officers need to use discretion, the way they do with street hockey,” said Andrews. “They’re not causing any harm.

“They told us what we were doing fits perfectly with the spirit of the family-friendly activities they promote. I think they have some work to do to promote that.”

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