Children who are ages 6 to 14 on the date of the business fair itself can participate.

The event is completely free to attend, and there is no fee to participate.

Young entrepreneurs first make an important decision: they hire themselves! Then, they begin to build a product or service, planning their business at every level: product/service, marketing, accounting, cost of goods, pricing, and more. Finally, they submit an application to reserve their spot at the fair.

Accepted applicants will sell their product or service to real customers from a booth at the fair. If you need help getting started, take a look at our resources page and our how-to videos for inspiration, advice from young entrepreneurs, and tips for parents.

This event is designed to help children learn how to do hard things that they can be proud of by giving them the experience of creating and selling their very own product or service.

Parents may help their children, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves, including product creation, set up, customer interaction, and sales. Parents of younger children may sit in the booth with them if necessary.

We encourage parents to provide plenty of inspiration, support, and mentorship while letting their children make the final decisions about how to run their business as the CEO. Parents may help their children fill out the application, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves.

Additional guidelines for the businesses themselves can be found on the “Apply Now” page.

Begin your application process here. Please submit one application for each business. Children working as a group should submit a single application that includes each child’s information. No more than 3 participants are allowed per business.

Start with our How It Works page, then check out our Resources and How-To-Videos.

• Keep it simple. This is a children’s fair. Let the business plan, booth, and sales reflect your children at their best, not your best.
• Let your children do the work. Let them make mistakes and learn from them. Let them problem solve and come up with their own solutions. Let them be messy! Let them be the Chair of the Board, CEO, and owner of their ideas.
• If your children get stuck, return to the key question for the entrepreneurial journey: What can I make with my own hands that others might enjoy?

The application asks children 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?

The fair will be an outdoor event with either fully-tented booths or a pavilion overhead (depending on the venue) for shelter in the event of inclement weather.

Each business will be provided at least an 8-foot table (to share with another business) and 1-2 chairs. If space and registrations permit, we may provide each business with its own 8-foot table, but we will not know this until closer to the day of the fair. Table cloths will not be provided.

Businesses with more than two participants or parents who require seating should plan accordingly.

We are not able to accommodate businesses requiring electricity or any open flames.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide electricity to the booths. Also, generators and open flames are not permitted.

We will hold a brief awards ceremony immediately after the Children’s Business Fair to award six cash prizes of $50 per business.


All entries will be automatically entered in the business competition, and businesses will be divided into two age groups based on the oldest participant: 6-10 and 11-14.


One prize will be awarded in each age group for the following categories:

• Most Original Business Idea
• Highest Business Potential
• Best Presentation/Creativity

Young people will be disqualified from the competition if adults:

• Help make their product (general guidance is fine, but kids must do the work themselves)
• Set up their booth, or
• Sell/promote their product

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. Since then, the Acton Children’s Business Fair has grown to over 1,500 fairs around the world serving more than 50,000 young entrepreneurs in over 500 cities and 20 countries.

Each Acton Children’s Business Fair is organized independently. This Children’s Business Fair is organized by Acton Academy Blue Ridge based in Staunton, VA. The business fair is an annual tradition and is part of our actual school curriculum.

If it is raining, we will still hold the business fair at the same location and time. All booths will be covered by a canopy tent or an overhead pavilion (depending on the venue).

Contact us here. Please note that, due to the high volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond quickly. We encourage you to review our FAQs and website before contacting us.