8-year-old's hand-built lemonade stand stolen in St. Paul Park, Minn.

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (KMSP)- An overnight theft in St. Paul Park has handed 8-year-old Akirah Nyberg lemons. So she and her family are doing their best to make lemonade out of the situation.

What went missing was Nyberg's lemonade stand she built with her father, a stand the two admit had a lot of sentimental value to them.

"I just don't understand it," said Nyberg's father Terry Sawyer. "I mean my daughter is 8 years old. I mean, they stole a lemonade stand from an 8-year-old."

The stand had been up in front of Nyberg's house on the 1200 block of Holley Avenue since last month.

"So it's yellow at the bottom of it. And then at the top it looks like a chalk board black," Nyberg said, describing the missing stand.

It isn't just the loss of Nyberg's summer job that has her bitter, but also her stolen chance to connect with the community.

"And since I don't have my lemonade stand anymore, I can't make people happy," she said.

Akirah and her father want the stand returned, and will ask no questions if it finds its way back to their yard. However, they both realize the chances of the return aren't great, so construction on the replacement has already begun.

Not wanting the thief or thieves to get away with the crime, Akirah's parents say if the stand isn't returned by Thursday morning they will be filing a police report.