Kamloops bus driver treats passengers to lemonade from kids’ roadside stand

Passengers on a Kamloops city bus got a sweet surprise when their driver pulled over at a children's lemonade stand and bought everyone a round.  

B.C. Transit driver Wayne Sjodin was driving the Number 17 bus to the Wildlife Park when he spotted a group of young kids with a lemonade stand, July 13.

"They had all of these signs, they’re cheering and wanted me to honk the horn," Sjodin said. "So I honked the horn."

On his way back, he had about seven passengers on board, and decided to make a pit stop.

He asked his passengers if they wanted lemonade, pulled over and bought a drink for everyone.

Sjodin bought so much lemonade, he cleared out the kids' stock of cups.

This isn't the first time he has done something like this, he said, and it won't be the last.

"On my other runs, up around the Summit area or up along the top of Aberdeen sometimes there’s kids selling girl guide cookies or lemonade," he said. "I’ll pull over and grab some lemonade or cookies for the kids."

He never anticipated the story to spread, and he wasn't looking for attention in the slightest.

"I just think it was great that these kids are out there learning how to be entrepreneurs," he said. "They were really, really great kids."

He said they looked to be about five to seven years old, and were overjoyed to see him pull over.

"To get a bus to pull over, normally people don’t do that," he said.

As for his passengers, he said they were very surprised.

"They just couldn’t believe it," he said.

Next week marks Sjodin's 13th year driving for B.C. Transit. 

When word spread around the company about the lemonade, one of his coworkers teased that he'd forgotten to buy them some.

So Sjodin brought lemonade for the staff the next day.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Brie Welton or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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Brie Welton

Brie is a recent graduate from UBC Okanagan where she studied English and French while managing the campus newspaper. After working as an intern reporter for the summer of 2019 in her home-town of Kelowna, she rejoined the InfoNews team in March 2020 and moved to Kamloops.
Her interests range from food features and artist profiles to politics, crime and minority issues. She has a passion for story-telling and aspires to one day become a full-time court reporter.

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