Utah children test their business skills at downtown market

LOGAN, Utah — Homemade slime, pancakes and wands were just some of the goods for sale at a downtown Logan entrepreneur market where kids hone their business savvy.

Kids ages 5 to 16 lined the street July 13 as part of The Libertas Institute’s second annual Children’s Entrepreneur Market, The Herald Journal reports. The libertarian think-tank established the event after Utah changed its laws to allow children to run a business without a license or permit. The market is held in 11 cities across Utah.

One of the market’s goals is to help children gain confidence, said Lynee Fife, the market manager.

“There are so many lessons that they learn just from this one venture,” Fife said. “They learn a variety of things: of how to converse with adults, how to make change.”

“Even if they don’t have a great day,” Fife said, “they learn a lot about, well, maybe their prices were too high.”

Parents can help the young vendors create their product and set up their booth, but the children must sell it on their own, she added.

On Saturday, the young entrepreneurs advertised playful items like cotton candy, temporary tattoos and carnival games under wooden booths and painted signs. Some of the children were first-time vendors, while others were already experienced sellers in their neighborhoods.

Leah Thomas, Ruth Thomas and their siblings make and sell bread to help pay for sports expenses. They said the market helps them be more outgoing.

“It’s hard to talk to people, but doing this makes it a lot easier to talk to people because you realize they aren’t that scary,” Leah said.

Fife encourages the community to support the children by attending the next market and browsing around.

“Just to come support young entrepreneurs,” Fife said. “I can easily get the kids to sign up, but it’s not successful for them if they don’t have customers.”