YEAR IN REVIEW: This article was originally published on October 21.
In the good old days, kids took to selling lemonade or cutting the neighbour’s lawn to earn some extra cash.
But today’s kids? They’re coming up with more and more ways to make some money and learn a lot about what it means to be an independent small business. And on Saturday, 37 young entrepreneurs ages 6-14 came together at Club Capri in Thorold for the Niagara Children’s Business Fair. In all, 52 young people were involved, selling products ranging from baked goods, hand crafted cards and slime to jewellery and a young author with her kids’ book.
Lori Punton, chair of the event, was inspired to host a fair in Niagara after she had attended a similar event in Cambridge three years ago with her grandson.
“I was very much impressed at how it was organized, and so I spoke with the co-ordinator who ran that one, and I asked, how do you get involved?”
She was put in touch with a family in Acton that had begun the initiative there and before she knew it, she was chairing her first event in Niagara last year at the Grantham Optimists Club in St. Catharines.
Punton turned to social media to get the word out about that first show to drum up interest from the families of potential participants.
“We did a lot of reaching out to different organizations, mom groups and stuff like that,” Punton said.
Many of the vendors that participated at that first event have come back for 2024, she said, adding she decided to move the event to Club Capri as the venue has additional parking and the building layout meant the show could be contained to a single hall, rather than the two that were needed in St. Catharines.
For Landon Eckhardt of Dain City, a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) led to him creating a business where he makes and sells his own slime.
“I have ADHD and when I was younger, I was given putty and it helped me,” he said. “So why not make slime now?”
Charlie Moore, with help from her younger sister, Ellie, published her very own kid’s book “The Dragon in the Playground.”
The book features her best friend Marjorie who runs into the title creature.
“I knew I wanted (Marjorie) in the story,” she said. “I thought dragons would be a great problem.”
Why did she choose a dragon to be the “problem” for Marjorie?
“Dragons are really strong. They have really sharp teeth,” she said.
For her part, Ellie is working on her own book. Her mom, Rhiannon, said the book will be an early reader that will be out in time for Christmas.
“It's about basically a fish out of water,” dad Brad, added. “It's ‘Have you ever seen an octopus climbing a mountain?’ It’s about the crazy things that you can imagine.”
Punton, meanwhile, said because of sponsorships from businesses, she was able to give out medals to businesses in several categories including Best Entrepreneur and Best Business Idea. Grants of $100 each were also awarded to 21 of the businesses.
“If it wasn't for our businesses that supported us financially, we wouldn't be able to give all the kids the things that we've given them,” she said.
