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Grand Island Chamber: KidBiz hits Town Commons with another successful year

Sat, Jul 7th 2018 07:05 am
By Travis LeFevre
Cars lined the streets along the Town Commons last weekend to support kids selling their products at KidBiz, the annual event for young entrepreneurs to sell goods and products.
At least 80 young entrepreneurs got together at a variety of booths to sell everything from homemade goods to used products.
"It's been a fantastic day. We obviously have beautiful weather. It's warm with a nice breeze, but we had a record turnout for kids and for customers, which has been great," said C.J. Girard of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, which runs KidBiz.
Girard went on to comment on customer turnout and how traffic on Whitehaven Road was constant throughout the day.
"They see this and, how do you not stop? ... With all the tents and all the colorful signs and all the kids really out promoting their products, which I think is really exciting for the town," he said.
Two young entrepreneurs, McKenna Lavine and Paige Horvath used the popularity of homemade slime to their advantage by making and selling a variety of slime with different colors, looks and textures by including beads and glitter.
"We found out it was really popular and my family wants to make it a lot, so we tried it," said Horvath.
The two learned of the popularity of slime through friends, family and the internet. In total, they made 49 tubs of slime to sell at KidBiz, which took nearly three hours of combining glue, contact solution, food coloring and baking soda.
"I think it's a great experience for them. They're going to learn what it's like to have to pay for things and then (subtracting) that from the money you make to see your profit and stuff like that," said Carrie Horvath. "It's a good financial learning experience for them."
In years past, hot dogs were grilled by local politicians and chamber board members. This year, Casey's Cabana, a newly opened business run by former KidBiz kids Lauren Merletti, Gabby Bergstrom and Luke Hess, took command of the grilling station.
"It's just inspirational to the kids, for sure, to see firsthand how successful former KidBizzers could be," Girard said.
Girard noted that for next year, the chamber would be doing more to reach out to the private schools on Grand Island as well as try to reach out even further.

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