Lemonade stand is summer tradition for two young girls

Ariana Quyintero and Ava Jubarat stand outside their lemonade stand. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY — As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, turn them into Legos.

Or something like that.

Located in a front yard on Farm Street, just off of Rives Avenue down from Furman Park, you’ll find a lemonade stand run by 3-year-old Ava Grace Jubarat and her 6-year-old niece Ariana Quintero.

The stand – known as Sissy’s Lemonade – has become a summer tradition for the girls, who set up shop every Wednesday to take advantage of the neighboring summer concert series. Ava and Ariana make their lemonade from scratch, with lemons picked from a tree in the backyard. While they offer a couple of different flavors including cherry and strawberry, classic, regular lemon is by far the most popular.

According to Christina Martinez – Ava’s mom and Ariana’s grandmother, the stand first came about three years ago as a way to teach the girls how to work for things they want.

“It’s for the summer, whatever they want for the summer,” said Martinez. “By the end of the summer, they get their trip, or they split the money.

“It’s not like they made a whole lot of money; it’s probably a lot more work to do it. But it just taught them that they had to work for it, and they looked forward to it every single week.”

This year, they are trying to earn enough money to pay for a trip to Legoland for Ava’s birthday in early August; roughly $500.

At the time of writing, the girls had raised around $400 of that goal.

Ava says she is most looking forward to seeing all the Legos at Legoland, although the pirates in the Pirate Reef section of the park make her a little nervous. Ariana, in the meantime, has her eyes set on riding all the rides.

Soon, the stand may expand beyond just a summer stint. Martinez says that the family is looking into potentially getting a business license, however it will still be up to Ava and Ariana where they take it.

“I just want them to get the mindset of business,” said Martinez.

Sissy’s Lemonade can be found on Instagram and Tik Tok, at sissys_lemonade.