Kimmswick’s Young Entrepreneurs Turn Creativity Into Business at Saturday Fair
From handmade bracelets to a published book, young vendors gave visitors plenty of reasons to stop and shop.
By The Jefferson Review
KIMMSWICK, Mo. — It was a beautiful day to walk through Kimmswick on Saturday, Sept. 26, and plenty of people came out to support its young business owners. Families browsed handmade goods, talked with the people who made them and helped turn creative ideas into sales. We even ran into Mayor Ken Kraft and his family.
The sixth annual Young Entrepreneur’s Arts & Craft Fair gave vendors age 17 and younger a chance to show what they had made and experience running a business. We stopped to meet three of the young entrepreneurs behind the tables.
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Kandy Kids: A Hobby With a Business Plan
Elaina Burke started making beaded bracelets after seeing someone make them in a video online. She thought they looked cool enough to try herself, bought some beads and kept creating. Today, she and her friend Gwen make bracelets, cuffs, ties, charms and small stars for their business, Kandy Kids.
Her mother told her about the Kimmswick fair, and Elaina saw an opportunity. “I was like, ‘Ooh, I want some money,’” she said, laughing about why she signed up. She arrived with products she had made herself and a clear goal: make some sales.
Ever Stitch Crochet: Passing Down a Family Skill
For Everett Childs, crochet began as a family tradition. His mother learned from her grandmother, then taught Everett. “Hopefully, I can teach my kids someday,” he said.
At his booth, Ever Stitch Crochet, Everett sold items he had crocheted and finger knitted by hand. As his collection of finished pieces grew, selling them seemed like a natural next step. This was his first event of its kind, and a fair built around young entrepreneurs felt like the right place to start.
ZB’s Creations: Stories, Bookmarks and Puzzles
Zachary Blacksher brought several kinds of work to his ZB’s Creations booth: books, bookmarks and puzzles.
Zachary has long enjoyed writing. For a story he wrote during his fourth-grade year, he drew on himself and his friends as characters in an adventure to save the world. He shared a chapter with his class each week, and his father later published the book for Zachary’s birthday. Zachary said readers can find it by searching his name on Amazon.
Puzzles are a newer addition to the business. Zachary prints an image using a sublimation printer, then transfers it onto a blank puzzle with a heat press. He said he had made the puzzles only about three weeks before the fair.
Each of these booths began with a different interest: a bracelet video, a family craft and a love of stories and puzzles. On Saturday, Kimmswick gave all three young makers a place to share that work with their neighbors.
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