Saskatoon kids run lemonade stand for new powwow regalia

Sell lemonade. Buy moccasins.

That's the mantra two young cousins are following this summer as they try to raise money for new powwow regalia.

Since early July, Ashaynaand Justin Assiniboine10 and 11-years-old, respectively have been running a lemonade stand on Avenue H in Saskatoon to fundraise for beaded leggings and moccasins.

Ashayna says her current leggings and moccasins are too big and the beads are falling off, whereas Justin says his moccasins are "starting to talk" meaning they have split open.

The duo says dancing is "really, really important" to them.

"It keeps our culture alive," said Justin.

An officer with Saskatoon police recently took notice of the stand and has set up a collection for them at the police station.

In her 17 years of police work, Sgt. TonyaGrestysays she has visited many lemonade stands but said Ashayna made this particular one stand out. Gresty said the 10-year-old was able to communicatea really clear goal for her age.

"It just kind of hit home that it was really special to her and the demonstration of how willing she was to work hard to meet her goals," she said. "It's people like that, that make Saskatoon such a great community."

Grestysays she makes it a priorityto find positive interactions such as this one.

"It's what keeps me going in a career that can be negative at times," she said.

"I collect these positive stories and keep them close to me when we're facing challenging times."

Not only areAshaynaand Justin selling lemonade, they also have water, chips and cookies.

It hasn't always been a sweet experience though.

Ashaynasays the heat has sometimes gotten to her, as temperatures reached over 30 C on multiple occasions during July in Saskatoon.

Justin says the heat hasn't bothered him too much, but it can sometimes get boring when business is slow.

Luckily, they have a deck of cards andtoy dinosaurs to keep them occupied.

The kidssay their stand has brought in about $400 so far and a single pair of moccasins can cost about $500.