The Children’s Entrepreneur Market visited Taylorsville in July and it was a hot success, emphasis on the word hot. Kids braved the sweltering heat and set up over 40 booths. Among them were budding business children selling everything from refreshments to baseball cards to paintings. 

“The children’s market is a great place for my kids to learn responsibility,” mother of three Sam Christiansen said. “They have to learn how to budget, cost and profit of the items they are selling. It’s been really fun to watch them take on a business role.”

The goal of the Children’s Entrepreneur Market is for children to learn budgeting, cost of goods, profit and pricing. The market got started by a 9-year-old in 2016, but it really took off after the Libertas Institute advocated for a Utah law passed in 2017. This law, the first law of its kind in the country, now prohibits local authorities from requiring minors to have business permits or licenses. 

Siblings Mason, Bailey and Malachai were amongst the young entrepreneurs with their gem table. “We collected most all the rocks you see here by ourselves,” Bailey said. “We’ve collected rocks from Montana, West Yellowstone, St. George, and Dugway.” And their booth was quite impressive with such treasures as magnetic sand, mica crystals, Utah ice and even fairy dust. Although, to be fair, they didn’t claim the fairy dust came from actual fairies. 

Ivy and Max C. went a different route than rocks and had a gaming table where they sold the ever-so-popular Among Us toys. “We love playing games and thought selling gaming stuff would be fun,” Ivy explained. “And we colored our business sign ourselves.”

Another booth selling hair accessories and jewelry was run by 10-year-old Kya T. with her younger brother selling baseball cards at the booth next door. “It’s fun making money because then I can buy stuff for myself,” she said. 

The prices are good and the goods are plentiful. “There’s something for everyone,” volunteer Mason Woodruff said. “These kids are out here selling products that some of them made themselves. It’s pretty incredible and it beats them staying indoors all summer long glued to the TV or their phones.”

The Children’s Entrepreneur Market has several more markets coming up and they are all around Utah. They will be attending Midvale, Riverton, Provo, Pleasant View, Centerville, Draper and Eagle Mountain. All but one of the markets is completely full with booths. That is pretty incredible, as is their concept: A farmer’s market run completely by children. Their three main focuses are: kids in charge, creativity wins and building confidence. All great things in the life of a kid. λ