Spencer Sadler holds up his notebooks with cereal box covers he made to sell at the Hyrum Kids Farmers Market omn Saturday.
HYRUM – Approximately 50 young entrepreneurs have set up shop at the parking lot adjacent to the Hyrum ballpark located at approximately 600 East Main St.
At the beginning of summer, the Sadler brothers Brigham, 15, and Spencer, 13, approached the Hyrum City Council about the concept of a kid’s farmers market and got the approval.
They had tried lemonade and smoothie stands and had marginal luck. But, so far this year, many of the young entrepreneurs are making around $50 for the three hours they are sitting there at the market they formed.
Spencer Sadler was there on Saturday selling notebook covers made from cereal box covers and wooden jewelry boxes he made. There were some 20 other stations of children, with two or more selling things they made or had grown.
“My mom sold these cereal box notebook covers when she was younger,” he said. “I thought I would see if I could make any money doing it, too.”
Both of the Sadler boys have struggled with trying to earn money while school is out for the summer.
“When we went to the city council and proposed the idea my brother did all the talking,” he said. “I just sat there. He is better at that kind of stuff than I am, so he presented it to them.”
Shelly Sadler, the boys’ mother, thought the idea of the Kid’s Farmers Market would be a better way for her boys to make money when they can’t legally work.
“I feel like even if they are too young to join the workforce, they still wanted to have jobs this summer,” she said. “So far I think it is going very well, we are excited about it.”
She said it teaches the kids business skills, like how to make and handle money and how to make a product.
When they started on June 5, they weren’t sure what to expect, but they are making money even though there weren’t too many customers. Kids are selling baked goods, home décor, candy parfaits made with yogurt, craft items, jewelry boxes, painted rocks, plants, eggs and more.
For the most part the parents hang around and help the kids, but the kids are the ones that make and sell the products.
Mei Harper was selling snow cones and Miyuki Harper, her sister, was selling cotton candy. Michaela Harper, their mother, said this was the first week with a new snow cone machine.
“This is really cool for the kids to learn how to be entrepreneurs,” Harper said. “So far they have made enough to buy a new cotton candy machine.”
Elaine Park from Nibley was at the station where her children were selling bread, magnets and some other things.
Two men working on the barricades for a nearby road construction job loaded up on the bread Park’s boys were selling.
“While I’m off doing house work these guys are making bread,” Park said. “People have been pretty generous.”
She said her family has sold produce at a roadside stand on Hollow Road and at the Cache Valley Farmers Market, but they want certificates, a sizable deposit and other things, she said. “This one is better for kids.”
The market is for any children who live in Cache Valley.
It will be closed due to the Star Spangled Rodeo scheduled for Friday, June 25, and Saturday, June 26. It will also be closed on Saturday July 3 for more of the city’s celebration.