BONNYVILLE – On May 25, the Bonnyville Farmers’ Market hosted a youth vendors at the C2 centre.
The vibrant youth market had free tables allocated for young people selling their wares, alongside the vendors at the regular Bonnyville Farmers’ market. The youth market is hosted on the last Saturday of each month.
Youth vendors can also be found at community events such as the recent Ohana family day, held on June 1.
Susanna Appleby, social media coordinator for the youth market, spoke about the program's origin.
“I used to work at a company that did kids’ business planning, Biz Kids, through community groups, and we would show the kids how to pick your business name, how to keep track of your money, how to charge for things... that's kind of where it started for me.”
Appleby approached Linda Boser, the Bonnyville Farmers’ Market manager, with an idea.
“I talked to Linda and I said, hey why don't we do something with just the youth market, and bring it in to showcase the kids?”
From Biz Kids to Youth Market, Appleby has been supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“Those are the kids that are going to be businesspeople probably later in their life if they were thinking about business now.”
Kids can sell whatever they want to create at the Youth Market, and Appleby can’t say enough about how unique the kids' products are.
“People think ‘kids’ and they think they’ve just coloured a picture and brought it to the market to sell... These kids can sew, they can plant, they can create... They're so unique... It’s very fun to see what the kids can make.”
Apppleby speaks about some of the youth vendors, noting, “Jordyn’s Jewels has been doing this for a few years... she is in three other locations selling in stores... Second Hand Scrunch, they use repurposed cloth and do it, they’re recycling fabric to make [scrunchies]... they’re thinking about the environment and it’s awesome.”
Appleby not only promotes the youth market idea, but happily sends information to help other markets get started with a similar program.
“It's been very well received, and I follow a bunch of other farmers markets in Alberta, and I've gotten emails from other farmers markets going hey, how did you do that youth thing?”
She provides information to those who ask, hoping a new generation of entrepreneurs will be inspired.
