A 14-year-old's driveway lemonade stand has grown into a record-setting fundraiser, and Hyde Park neighbors can grab a free cup on July 25, at Hyde Park Square.

Payton Obert founded Payton's Lemonade Stand in 2018 at age 6, inspired by a stuffed teddy bear she received as a 2-year-old patient at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. That first stand raised $768 from her family's driveway. Eight years later, a record 110 sites have signed up for the ninth annual event, according to organizers.

Stands will serve free lemonade and accept donations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Hosts range from kids and parents to businesses, fire departments, and nursing-home residents.

"Honest to God, I thought people were gonna show up with their quarters and give us 50 cents for a cup," Jess Obert, Payton's mother and the nonprofit's executive director, told the Epoch Times in a July 23 profile. "But they were dropping $20s, $50s, $100s in the jar."

From driveway to $5 million

The growth has been steep. After local media coverage in 2019, the second stand raised $7,000. In 2020, despite pandemic restrictions, the effort expanded to about nine locations and brought in more than $35,000. The organization attained nonprofit status in 2021, and Jess Obert left her job at Cincinnati Children's Hospital that year to run it full time. She remains its sole paid staffer, according to the Epoch Times profile.

Last year's three-hour event raised more than $150,000 in cash donations across all locations. In its 2025 fiscal year, the organization reported more than $1 million in total revenue, though roughly $800,000 of that came as in-kind donations such as goods and services, according to its annual report. To date, Payton's Lemonade Stand has raised more than $5 million in monetary and in-kind donations, a figure cited by Cincy Serves when it named Payton among its 11 honorees this year.

Local connection

A Hyde Park Square stand is listed in a Chowdown Cincinnati community post referencing the nonprofit's interactive map. One prior Hyde Park host wrote on the organization's website: "Our company is new to the Hyde Park area so it was so nice talking and meeting with people that live in the community. We had a great time getting to meet all our new neighbors all while supporting an amazing cause."

The nonprofit benefits more than 40 local groups that distribute funds, toys, clothes, coats, and food to children facing medical, personal, and economic hardships, according to Cincy Serves.

How to participate

Residents can visit the Hyde Park Square stand on July 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Check paytonslemonadestand.org for final location confirmations before heading out. Those who can't attend in person can donate online at paytonslemonadestand.org/donate.