Welcome to the Morgan Hill Children's Business Fair, a one-day event where kids can launch a business and neighbors and the entire community can celebrate the leaders and free-thinkers of tomorrow.
August 3rd, 2024 11:00am-3:00pm Amphitheater Morgan Hill Community Center
During this event, children are launching their very own startup businesses! Right in front of you!
Some do it for the very first time. How exciting and scary!! Some, at age 10 or 15 are already veterans in running their own businesses.
At the Morgan Hill Children's Business Fair we encourage healthy competition.
We have cash prizes, certificates, and more for winners of the 3 categories the booths are being judged in during the fair.
All booths during our fair are judged by our awesome judges in 3 categories:
Most original business idea. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
Highest business potential. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
Best presentation/creativity. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
REGISTRATION FEE -$50 per BOOTH (with a maximum of 3 kids in a booth).
Before you register, please make sure to read through our FAQ Page! If you participated in our fair before some of our rules changed and we want to make sure everybody is aware of the changes before signing up!
FOOD BOOTHS please read this next paragraph carefully! This year we are working with the County Health Department to obtain permission for booths to sell food. Our fair has grown exponentially since the first fair and we are required by our venue to follow certain rules when it comes to booths selling food. Ewa (the event host), Carlie (our event's biggest supporter), Natalia (Ewa's daughter) Join as a Volunteer. Help us run and grow the event! If you're interested in participating in the fair as a volunteer (no matter your age) please fill out this form and we will reach out to you ASAP.
This event is run and organized by volunteers and we are very grateful for all the help!
We run on sponsorships and donations. Since the very first event, we have worked closely with sponsors and private donors of all sorts to cover our expenses, like venue rental, insurance, marketing materials, prizes, etc.
Are you a business that supports kids, parents, alternative education, the value of community, and the free market? We probably share a similar audience, then! By being our sponsor we help you get in front of it.
Whether an entrepreneur is famous like Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey or they are one of the thousands of unsung business owners across this country, these are the people who make sacrifices to innovate, create jobs, and serve their communities.
This event grows and nourishes an entrepreneurial mindset!
The Acton Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneurs. The largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America, this one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses.
Each Children's Business Fair (a list of them you can see on the "other fairs" page) is run separately from each other. Each fair is organized by private schools or individuals who are passionate about educating the youth to think outside of the box, or maybe like there is no box at all, like Ewa and Carlie in the MHCBF case.
How big is the Morgan Hill Children's Business Fair?
This year we are open to up to 60 businesses. That means 60 booths. Each booth can have up to 3 kids. Parents are encouraged to stay and cheerlead their small business owners! Bring your friends and family. The more people to stop&shop the better the experience for our awesome kids!
We are located downtown Morgan Hill at the amphitheater area of the Community and Cultural Center. We get pretty good foot traffic each year, and the kids often sell out! That is a good problem to have. Right?
How do I apply? Can I apply as part of a group?
The application must be submitted online via this website.
Please submit one application for each business.
Children working as a group should submit one application that includes each child’s information. We accept up to 3 participants per business/booth.
What is on the application?
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?
Do you accept FOOD BOOTHS? We are only accepting food booths that obtained the County's Health Department food seller permit.
What if someone else has the same business idea?
Two jewelry businesses?! Not a problem! Two allergy-friendly bakers?! Even better! We want to encourage healthy competition in the form of a challenge.
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.
Cash prizes, raffle prizes, certificates, and more!
All booths during our fair are judged by our awesome judges in 3 categories:
Most original business idea. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
Highest business potential. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
Best presentation/creativity. (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
For all the winners in each category, we have cash prizes, gift baskets, merchandise sponsored by our local small businesses, and more.
How will the fair be set up?
The fair will be an outdoor event. We provide the venue, the experience, fun and excitement, event promotion (we have a nice following and a pretty active social media presence), and extra business-related activities before the fair (like a pre-fair party!)
Each business gets a spot where they will assemble their booth. The size of each lot fits an 11x11 shade structure. Each booth can have up to 2 tables in their booth. Each booth's setup can not extend beyond its lot. Participants can apply for corner booths (if available). Corner booths always get more space.
You can decorate your booth the way you want, to showcase your business.
Each participant is recommended to bring shade in the form of a patio umbrella or pop-up tent, and have it decorated based on your business idea. Make it your own. Make it unique. Layla's Photography, MHACBF 2022
We do not provide electricity at the venue.
The registration fee covers the entrance to the fair as a participant. We do not provide shade structures (highly encouraged to have them since we have limited natural shade at the venue!). Natural shade spots are given in first-come-first-served order.
Is there a Registration Fee? Yes. $50 per booth. The registration fee pays for some expenses required to organize this event. Venue rental, insurance, marketing materials, prizes, and certificates, just to name a few. This event is organized by passionate parents and is based mostly on volunteer work.
This is a great opportunity for our youngsters to learn about budgeting. Knowing the concept of paying rent or having savings to fund their "start-up". We encourage you to ask the participant him/herself to come up with the registration fee amount. We are all for learning real-life skills here!
Will electricity be available?
For safety reasons, we are not able to provide electricity to the booths.
What are the rules?
The most important mission for this event is to give our youth a true real-life experience in selling a product or service.
To meet this goal we encourage parents to be involved with the entire process as little as possible.
If a parent is found selling or promoting a child’s product or service for them, their child’s business will be disqualified from the competition.
Parents are encouraged to chill out in the back of the booth and let the business owner run his/her business.
Helping (younger) kids with collecting payments is acceptable.
The age limit to have a booth at the fair is 16 years old. However, we also accept kids volunteers to help us run this event smoothly (the day of the fair or prior to the fair helping us with social media and marketing).
Each business is required to bring its own setup. Due to the open area where the event happens with very little natural shade, all participants are advised to bring their own pop-up tents or patio umbrellas.
We have several spots under natural shades and these can be offered to people who can't provide their own shade. These spots will be given in a first-come-first-served order.
We do not provide shade structures, tables, or chairs. The entire booth set-up is limited to an 11x11 pop-up shade with up to two craft tables. You can have extra set up in your booth if it doesn't extend beyond your booth.
Corner booths are more spacious. Corner booths are given in first-come-first-serve order. We will have a VERY limited amount of tables for emergency situations.
* * *RELEASE OF LIABILITY* * *
We have a good safety record, but in the event of an emergency, Morgan Hill Community Center, Ewa Kuc, and Acton Academy are not be held liable for injuries. You recognize that there are potential dangers around nature, equipment, etc. Please remind your children to listen to the leaders and stay within the rules of the fair. Although all precautions will be taken to ensure your child’s safety, there is the possibility of unforeseen injuries.
By enrolling your child in Morgan Hill Acton Children's Business Fair, you agree to release and hold Ewa Kuc and Morgan Hill Community Center harmless from any cause of action, claims, or demands now and in the future. Ewa Kuc and Morgan Hill Community Center will not be held liable for any personal injury or any personal property damage or loss, which may occur on the premises before, during, or after the fair.
About
Ewa and her hobbies :) Our local event is organized by Ewa Kuc. This event wouldn't be possible withouth the help of awesome kids, volunteers, and all the sponsors!
Note about the fair from Ewa In 2019 my kids took part in Santa Clara Acton Children's Business Fair. They had a blast but I was changed forever.
I fell in LOVE with this concept. Sitting at the booth with my daughter back in 2019 I thought it would be amazing to organize such an event in my community. In 2021 I ran my first Morgan Hill Children's Business Fair.
As a business owner, I know what kind of freedom, and challenges (duh!), running a business brings. Inspiring the young generation to take that route in their life, or even experience it for a short period sparks something amazing inside of me. I can't even describe it!
Learning things about life at school is one thing... But learning life just by living it is absolutely different way of learning. By making this event happen I want to inspire the young generation to learn by living, doing, making things happen, failing and getting back up again, figuring things out, experiencing...
And here we are, getting ready for our 4th fair!
I couldn't be more inspired by all the great responses this event has gathered! I'm looking forward to seeing all these young entrepreneurs doing their best and setting up an example for future generations!
Contact us
Have a question for the team at Acton's Children Business Fair
Morgan Hill, CA? Please contact us by
using the form below, and we will be in touch as soon as possible with
a reply. Thanks for your interest!
The Acton Children's Business Fair does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin and admits and gives all hosts and participants access to the same rights, privileges, programs and activities.
