The Vancity fair ended with children trading booth to booth

The Vancity Children’s Business Fair ran from 11 to 3 on Saturday, July 25. Twenty-eight booths went up on the gravel field at Edith Cavell Elementary, run by 40 children. The youngest was six.

Some of them were ready to talk to their first customers right away. Others were quieter at the start, waiting behind their tables, unsure how to begin. About 200 people came through.

What was on the tables

All 28 of them.

Some children built their brand with handmade signs. Others used digital tools, including AI, to design materials that made their booths stand out.

Selling was only the last step of it. Behind every table was the whole process: imagining a product, making or preparing it, pricing it, presenting it, talking to customers, and then handling whatever came back. Interest. Questions. A sale. A no.

They started watching each other

Nobody organized this part.

Some young entrepreneurs left their tables and walked the fair with their products in hand, talking to visitors and inviting them back to their booths. Before long, more children were trying the same thing. They were not being instructed by adults. They were watching what worked and adapting.

The four boys behind G & J Toy Hub had done their marketing before the fair even started. They made flyers for their 3D objects and handed them out in Douglas Park. The flyers carried an offer: “Come out on July 25, show this and get a free chicken.” The chicken was one of their 3D prints, given away as a sample to get people to the fair.

The young entrepreneur behind Issa’s Incredible Collectibles played a cello during the fair to draw more visitors over.

The last half hour, when they started trading

About thirty minutes before the fair ended, the children began trading with each other.

They moved booth to booth, offering their own products in exchange for someone else’s. Some of the trades were simple and joyful. Others were serious negotiations: an offer, a reconsideration, another offer, each side trying to come out ahead. They were weighing what their own work was worth against someone else’s.

By then the fair had become more than a sales event. It was a small economy the children had created and understood themselves.

The parents stepped back

Many parents were there, present and nearby, and far enough back to let their children lead. They gave them the space to speak, sell, and manage their own booths.

That is not always easy. It takes trust.

What parents told us

“Thank you for this amazing organization. I love this idea to teach kids to become entrepreneur. My daughter had a lot of fun talking to customers.”

“Thanks so much! That was my daughter’s first time having a booth selling her crochet items and she enjoyed every minute of it. It would be awesome to have more of these opportunities every year. Maybe one in November so people can buy items for stocking stuffers or gifts.”

“It was great experience for kids. Well organized!”

“All in all, the event was very well organized and had a wonderfully positive community vibe.”

The response was clear. Families want more of these.

Thank you to the people who made it possible

Thank you to Debbie Guilfoyle, C.A.I.B., and Rand & Fowler Insurance Ltd, who supported the fair.

And thank you to everyone who came out, asked the children about their work, and bought what they made. About 200 of you came through. We’ll run it again in 2027.

What we take from it

A child who has priced her own crochet and explained it to a stranger has done something that is hard to replicate on a worksheet.

We think the most useful part of the day was the part the children ran themselves. They copied what worked at other tables without being told to, and by the end they had built a small economy of their own.

That is what we are building around. Trellis is a learning community for homeschooling families — not a school. We open in Vancouver in September 2026. If you would rather ask about it in person than read about it, book a parent conversation.