The Acton Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneur. The largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America, this one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses.
Where should I begin?

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

All kids, ages 6-14, can setup a booth at the business fair.

In Virginia, under Code of Virginia § 40.1-79.01, children of any age, are allowed to “work for a business owned entirely by their parents" as long as it is not in mining, manufacturing, or other hazardous occupations. Their "children-run business" can be considered under their parent's sole-proprietorship or a branch of their parent's business.

Application must be submitted online by May 15th, 2023. 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?

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.
Applicants must be between the ages of 6 and 14 on the date of the business fair.
Parents may help their child fill out the application, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves.
You will receive an email confirming that we received your application. If you don’t receive an email confirmation it means that we either didn’t receive your application or that your email address was incorrect.
We will collect a $20 registration fee from all accepted businesses. This fee covers the facility rental and provides a table and 2 chairs for each business booth.

When selecting businesses to participate in the business fair, we look for:

Complete applications, with all questions answered.
Evidence that the application and the business are the work of the child and not the adult—we don’t expect polished applications!
Plans by the young entrepreneur to pay back any loans/financial assistance he/she may receive.
If we receive more applications than we have space for, we will employ first come first basis, as much as possible, but also strive to maintain diversity in age, gender, and race at the fair.
Children that participated at previous fairs will be prioritized.

Two cupcake businesses? Not a problem. In general, we will let market forces play out, and encourage children to think of unique ways to appeal to the customers.

The fair will be an indoor event, hosted at the Claude Moore Recreation Center in Sterling, VA. Each business will be assigned "booth" space which include half of a 6-ft table and 1 chair. Businesses need to bring their own decorations for their tables.

The Loudoun Children's Business Fair will apply for a Temporary Food Vendor Application and receive a blanket permit from the Virginia Department of Health.
We urge all children planning to setup a Food business, to submit for their own Temporary Food Vendor as well.
Event-Coordinator-Registration-and-Information-Packet (loudoun.gov) (https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/125801/Event-Coordinator-Registration-and-Information-Packet?bidId=)

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.

Jeff and Laura Sandefer and a few other families wanted to spark a sense of wonder and entrepreneurship in their children, so they created the first Acton Children’s Business Fair in Austin, Texas, in 2007. That year, there were seven entrepreneurs and around 25 attendees. Now, there are over 115 entrepreneurs and 1,500 attendees at the Acton Children's Business Fair in Austin.