The Coastal Alabama Business Chamber skipped participation in the popular nationwide Lemonade Day in 2023 and took the time to plan a similar but broader local Coastal Alabama Kid Entrepreneurs Day.

“Some of you guys may remember Lemonade Day we’ve done in the past,” Chamber Vice President for Programs and Education Penny Hughley said. “That was a national franchise that we had to pay a lot of money to use that branding and that system and it seemed like we constantly had some issues and problems with it. So, we kind of sun-setted that program. We took a year off and decided to develop our own program which is affectionately known as C.A.K.E Day.”

The event is set for 8 a.m.-noon on May 11 with as many as 60 kids ready to dip a toe in the water of the business world with stands set up in the two coastal cities.

“It’s the same concept but even better than lemonade because the kids can open any type of business they want. It doesn’t have to be just lemonade,” Hughley said. “They can sell art, they can sell jewelry, they can put temporary tattoos on people and they can tell jokes for a dollar if they want to. It’s whatever they decide they want to do. It’s for kindergarten through fifth grade.”

Chamber officials and local volunteers have already been working with the kids, including a Money Matters workshop on March 2 and a stand-building day on April 6 with Ace Hardware donating the materials.

“We have over 60 kids locally that have signed up to participate this year,” Hughley said. “We’ve had a couple of workshops we’ve done for them. Once we referred to as a recipe for sweet success, which is where we took them through marketing and branding and how to come up with a business plan. Then we had a workshop that was about money matters and little lenders where we talked to them about cost, profit and how to borrow money for your startup cost. That was sponsored by some of our bank partners.”

The goal, she said, was to give them a solid foundation to learn as much as possible about starting a small business. Among the vendors planned include making and selling fishing lures, paintings and even coffee with special “foam art” on top. And, some will still be selling lemonade.

“We teach them to save some, spend some and share some,” Hughley said. “We talk about the importance of giving back to the community that has supported them, so we do encourage them to donate a portion of what they make that day. We’re really excited about it. We’ve had excellent participation, the kids are fired up.”

Hughley said the chamber was “actively recruiting” businesses willing to allow the youngsters to set up in front of their stores or offices.

“If your business would to have a child set up in front of your business, we are accepting what we refer to as safe stand locations,” Hughley said. “That just means you’re going to allow a child to set up their business in front of your place of business and they are allowed to come in and use the restroom and have access to a sink to wash their hands and that sort of thing.”

Businesses wanting to participate can contact Hughley at penny@mygulfcoastchamber.com or Moberly at ryan@mygulfcoastchamber.com. Soon the chamber will roll a map with the location of the stands.

“We encourage every member of the community, if you’re not sponsoring or working with the child, go out and shop that morning, find these kids, buy something whether you need it or not,” Hughley said. “Just go talk to them. I promise you, you will be impressed at how knowledgeable they are and how fired up they are about this. We all know we live in a community of entrepreneurs, so we gotta train them up right from the very beginning.”