The Casa Grande Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneur. Held in Casa Grande for the first time, this one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses.

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

Applications 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. There is a $10 entrance fee for all participants.
Why are the participants required to pay an entrance fee?

We want all the participants to take this seriously and try their hardest. The entrance fee is a chance for them to sponsor themselves and helps pay for table and chair rentals and services on the day of the event, like catering for the participants. Any leftover money from the entrance fees will be donated to a local Casa Grande charity.

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?

In case there are multiple businesses selling a similar product or service, there is a limit of two booths total per idea. We want all the kids to have fun and be successful and this will ensure we don't have an entire fair made up of cupcakes! A variety of products and services will create an event everyone will be talking about.

The fair will be an outdoor event with booths. Each business will be given a booth with a table 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.

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.