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Young entrepreneurs open up Market on Mill in Utica with Lemonade Day event · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Young entrepreneurs open up market on mill and Utica with
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  Lemonade Day event. Written by Bill Frescos, This article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Over thirty student run businesses earned more than two thousand
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  dollars in just two hours at the Lemonade Day Youth
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  market in Utica on Saturday, with every young entrepreneur turning
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  a profit. Seven businesses topped one hundred dollars in sales.
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  The top earner was three Days Prints by Waltham students
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  Jonah and Oliver, which brought in two hundred and fifty dollars.
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  Star Designs run by Waltham students Theala and Anna Elisa
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  followed with one hundred and sixty seven dollars. The event,
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  organized by the Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce, teaches
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  young entrepreneurs about responsibility, teamwork, and community contribution. According to
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  executive director Bill Zen's, the Pro program's impact goes far
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  beyond the money earned. The program is about more than
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  just making money, Zen said said, It's about learning responsibility, teamwork,
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  and how to contribute to your community. I could really
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  go on and on about what these kids can take
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  away from an event like this, Zen said, the creativity
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  from the kids is what continues to surprise him year
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  after year. Every year there's something new, he said. We've
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  had kids write and sell books, create artwork, make bracelets,
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  bake goods, and now three D printed items. Their creativity
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  and imagination is unmatched. For eleven year old Neemiah of
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  Waltham Elementary, the day was as much about fun as
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  it was business. He sold snow cones, lemonade, and candy
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  filled treats kookies, Neamiah said with a laugh. When asked
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  about his favorite part of the day. Still, he admitted
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  that although it was a fun day with his friends,
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  the work behind the scenes wasn't all that easy. I
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  had to carry a lot of stuff, he said. It's
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  been a long day. Jonah, also eleven, from Waltham Elementary,
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  said his first year participating came with its own challenges.
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  One of the biggest challenges was probably the wind, he said.
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  Just keeping everything on the table was sometimes hard. Despite
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  the obstacles, Jonas's three days printing business earned the most
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  money at the event, bringing in over two hundred and
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  fifty dollars. Zens emphasized that the event's impact goes well
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  beyond the money kid's earn. The ability to work together,
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  the ability to communicate with adults, those are very important
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  skills for kids to learn. Zen said every kid had
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  to have face to face conversations today with new people,
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  handle transactions, and just understand the time and effort it
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  takes to run something like this. So learning that, learning
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  the timing and effort that goes into doing this. They
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  can't wait till the last minute. I don't know if
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  there is a more rewarding program we run