On Saturday, August 19th, LexYouth hosted its first Youth Marketplace event on the Lexington Visitors Center Lawn. While many items were sold at the venue, what’s most important is how the Youth Marketplace allowed young people to learn the fundamentals of building a business while teaching them a broader community consciousness.
Twenty-six youth-run booths were set up during the morning (10 AM – 12 PM) and afternoon (12:30 PM – 1:30 PM) sessions of the event. While these booths came from various backgrounds, with younger kids and older teenagers alike, each booth sold unique items, often handmade by the seller. From handmade jewelry, to cloth bags and acrylic charms, to candles and art pieces—the Youth Marketplace allowed kids to engage in crafts they were interested in as a venue for expressing themselves and learning business fundamentals.
Throughout the event, LexYouth encouraged young people to develop their own business, marketing and communication skills. While LexYouth volunteers assisted booth runners, kids were encouraged to create their own advertisements, posters, and products. Additionally, children also had an opportunity to learn about essential communication skills, learning to talk to customers, barter or negotiate prices, or explain the significance of their product. The event presented an unprecedented opportunity for young people to experience entrepreneurship: not only learning about the basics of business, but employing these basics in a real-world environment.
Beyond this, LexYouth’s Marketplace also allowed young people to contribute back to the community. As part of the Marketplace, a small portion of the profits earned by booth runners was donated to support local and international causes, teaching young people to work towards positive social action. A small amount of the money raised during the Marketplace was donated to the Depot Transformation Project of the Lexington Historical Society (LHS). Through this project, the LHS hopes to turn its relatively empty depot into a flexible space to connect the past to contemporary issues, but also create another space for community groups, contemporary arts, and for all.
During the Youth Marketplace, youth volunteers worked tirelessly to set up the Lawn, assist young booth runners. The Youth Marketplace vendors generously donated 20% of their earnings to support the Depot Transformation project.
Due to the success of the event, LexYouth may very well be hosting another Youth Marketplace in the future: raising donations for the town, drawing our attention to helping the Lexington Community while providing children with a nurturing setting in which they can practice their business skills and become young entrepreneurs.
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Report is by Joanna Liu, who is a rising senior from Lexington High School. Her work has been recognized by the New York Times, the National Alliance for Young Writers, Bennington Young Writers Awards, and The Poetry Society, among others. Currently, she serves as a poetry reader at The Adroit Journal and an Executive Editor at The Dawn Review.
