Last month, Kids Markets came to Spring Hill. It’s a traveling national nonprofit that hosts farmers markets run entirely by kids. I couldn’t make it, but I was really curious about what pint-sized entrepreneurs were up to these days.
I asked Olivia Michiels, head of media relations at Kids Markets, for some details. “About 10 years ago there were stories in the news about people calling the cops on lemonade stands because kids didn't have a $100 permit to sell a 50-cent glass of lemonade,” she says. In response, Utah passed what she calls the first-in-the-nation Lemonade Stand bill in 2017. It stopped cities from requiring kids to have a permit or license to run those kinds of businesses.
“After that, we began hosting these markets in Utah to give kids an entrepreneurial experience in a low-stakes environment with guaranteed customers from the community events we partner with,” she says. “It's not just about making a sale; we give kids a real experience: real products, real money, real customers.”
Over the years, Kids Markets has had events in 700 cities and worked with more than 100,000 kid entrepreneurs. The Spring Hill event hosted 17 kid CEOs who sold everything from leather keychains to novels to crocheted stuffies to hand-drawn maps. Of course, not all of them are online (for safety and because they presumably have other responsibilities like homework).
Want to put some cash in a kid CEO’s pocket? With Michiels’ help, here are a handful of pint-sized businesses in the area that you could contact for your gift-buying needs this holiday season.
- Check out Amelia’s Sweet Treats, which sells specialty Bundt cakes.
- The Pickle Pot makes all manner of pickles.
- Maya’s Resin Room sells ornaments and also offers classes on working with resin.
- Two Ties Quinn has a little bit of everything, from cookies to stickers to resin kits. And, yes, its founder, Quinn, already has a signature look: wearing two neckties at once.
