The Talladega Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneur. This one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses. It is modeled after the largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America, The Acton Children's Business Fair in Austin, TX.

Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills.

Application must be submitted online. Please submit one application for each business. Children working as a group should submit one application that includes each child’s information. No more than 3 participants per business.

The application asks kids to think through some simple, but important elements of their business:

What product or service do you plan to sell?
What price will you charge for each product/service? How much will each product/service cost you?
How will you pay for your startup costs? If someone is helping you with your startup costs, how will you pay that person back?
How will you advertise/market your business before the fair?
At the end of the fair, how will you determine if your business was a success?

Two cupcake businesses? Not a problem. In general, we will let market forces play out, though we will let later entries know if another applicant has a similar idea so the later entrant can decide what to do.

The fair will be a tented outdoor event with booths. Each business will be given a booth with an 8-foot table (to share with one other business), full-cover tenting, and 1-2 chairs. Table cloths will not be provided. We are not able to accommodate businesses requiring electricity.

This event is designed to give children the experience of selling a product or service. If a parent is found selling or promoting a child’s product or service, their child’s business will be disqualified from the competition.

Parents of younger children may sit in the booth, but the children should be responsible for set up, customer interaction, and sales.

Parents may help their child fill out the application, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves.

Inspired by Jeff and Laura Sandefer, local entrepreneur Eboni L. Truss wanted to spark a sense of wonder and entrepreneurship in her children. After much research, she found the Acton Children's Business Fair that began in 2007 in Austin, TX. Greatly inspired by their model, Mrs. Truss, a former educator, decided to not just include her two sons Gabriel and Michael, but to also reach out to other children and their parents to see if there was any interest from them. Fortunately, there was! This therefore is the first of what we plan to be an annual event. We plan to begin with 15 young entrepreneurs, but expect for the fair to grow each year.