The Homewood Science Center will be abuzz on Aug. 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the first-ever Children’s Business Fair hosted by Flossmoor residents and sisters Danielle Such and Mirielle Barker.
Such became involved in other children’s business fairs when her 12-year-old daughter, Ruby, began her own bracelet-making business and attended fairs in Chicago’s western suburbs.
After searching online, she noticed that one had never been hosted within the South Suburbs and became interested in learning how to organize a fair. Such gathered information and enlisted the help of Barker, a special education teacher at Parker Junior High School.
“I felt like the two of us together, especially with her being a teacher with summers off, that maybe we had a little bit of time to give to [planning the fair] to make it something good for the community,” Such said.
Barker, whose daughter also has a business, thought bringing a fair to Homewood would be a good opportunity to give children’s businesses a platform.
“There are so many creative ideas that the kids can come up with, and I’m excited to show that to the community,” Barker said. “These kids might only be 8 or 9 years old, but they have really wonderful, inventive ideas that we’d like to bring to the public.”
Children’s Business Fairs are sponsored by Acton Academy. The organization provides materials to those who are interested in setting up fairs in their communities. Such and Barker used Acton’s planning material to help them organize this year’s fair.
The day will be sponsored by the Village of Homewood and the Homewood Science Center along with several local businesses and restaurants that will help provide lunches for participants and present awards to the children.
Morgan Sullins from Gypsy Fix, Shawnda DeBose from Ruby Ella Sweets and Bob Garrity from Ink-n-Um Tattoo Shop will help to judge the booths.
The sisters hope the fair will be able to feature about 30 children’s businesses ranging from jewelry makers, stuffed animal embroidery, custom T-shirt makers, homemade dog treats and more.
“The goal is to give the kids the inspiration and this self-esteem boost that they can [run their business] exclusively on their own, which is pretty cool,” Such said.
The business fair will take place at the same time as the Homewood Farmer’s Market which Such and Barker hope will increase more traffic to the children’s booths.
“I like the that fact that it will bring together the farmer’s market with the kids fair because I think that will be a nice way to say like here’s the creativity and the farm vendors, etc., in the adult world. And then, I think it’ll be nice for them to be able to say look at all that is out here from just local kids,” Such said.
Children who live in Homewood and Flossmoor with a small business will be given priority when signing up for the fair, but all children are encouraged to apply. There is a $20 booth fee to participate in the fair. For more information, visit www.childrensbusinessfair.org/homewood-illinois.
