Young entrepreneurs took center stage at Kirkland’s Children’s Business Fair during City Hall for All, bringing creativity, confidence, and a little healthy competition to the City Hall parking lot.

The event drew nearly 50 young businesses. Children and teens developed products and ideas, thought through pricing and marketing, and created their own booths. Then they put their skills to the test with real customers. In the weeks leading up to the fair, participants also joined workshops on pricing, marketing, and selling.

The Kirkland Community Foundation chose to get involved because the event was a natural fit with the Foundation’s Learning & Innovation area of impact, which supports opportunities that help people learn, explore ideas, build skills, and imagine what is possible.

“Being an innovator and an entrepreneur is one of the most important skill sets a young person can build,” said Carmin Dalziel, Executive Director of the Kirkland Community Foundation. “The tools will keep changing — computers, tutors, classes, AI, and whatever comes next. What matters is the tenacity to keep thinking, keep experimenting, and keep asking, ‘What might work?’”

The Foundation partnered with the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce and the City of Kirkland to recognize participants in three categories: Most Innovative Product, honoring originality and creativity; Best Customer Service, recognizing friendliness, enthusiasm, and care for customers; and Best Booth Presentation, celebrating an eye-catching, organized, and professional display.

This year’s award recipients were:

Children’s Business Fair – Most Innovative

Most Innovative Product: MECHANIC

Children’s Business Fair – Best Customer Service

Best Customer Service: STAR STITCHES

Children’s Business Fair – Best Booth presentation

Best Booth Presentation: SEA LOVER ART

Winners received a plaque, a copy of Kidpreneurs: Young Entrepreneurs, and a working session with leaders from the Chamber and the Foundation to help them think about how to expand and strengthen their businesses. Every participating business received a one-day Kirkland Children’s Business License Certificate from the Mayor and City Council, ensuring that all of the young entrepreneurs left with recognition for taking the leap and putting their ideas into the world.

For the organizers and community partners, the goal extended beyond selecting winners. Recognition matters, but so does giving young people a chance to practice skills they will carry into school, work, leadership, and everyday life.

Real-world experience

“Business skills never fail you,” Dalziel said. “Learning them early through a real-world experience is incredibly valuable. You learn how to communicate, solve problems, adapt, serve a customer, and keep going when something does not work the first time.”

That real-world experience is part of what made the fair such a strong fit for the Foundation’s Learning & Innovation work. Participants were not simply learning about entrepreneurship in theory. They were creating something, talking with customers, making decisions, adjusting in the moment, and experiencing what it feels like to put an idea into the world.

One of the event partners noted during planning that, for young entrepreneurs, recognition itself can be powerful — hearing their name called, receiving a certificate, and knowing that adults in the community noticed their effort. Mentoring and other practical support can then help them continue developing their ideas.

For the Kirkland Community Foundation, that is Learning & Innovation in action: giving young people opportunities to try something new, build confidence, learn through experience, and discover what they are capable of.

Not every participant will grow up to own a business. But every one of them practiced how to take an idea, test it in the real world, learn from what happened, and keep going.

Those are skills worth investing in.

Founded in 2014, the Kirkland Community Foundation is a local community foundation supporting nonprofits across Kirkland and the Eastside. We connect donors, nonprofits, and community priorities through grants, partnerships, and local giving that strengthen our parks, people, and shared future. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 46‑4931717), we invest in thriving nonprofits, visible community impact, and trusted local leadership.