By Tanya Steele
The 1st Belgrave Scouts held a first-time youth market on Sunday 20 October, paving the way for young entrepreneurs all over the hills and beyond.
Balloon animals, bunnies, bracelets, buskers, brownies and more graced the scout hall in Belgrave, inviting the community to take part in supporting the youth of the Dandenong Ranges Youth Market.
Scout Parent Volunteer Organiser Rachael Vautier said it was a beautiful community fit and posted to social media that it was a fantastic day.
“We’re really happy with it and we were lucky with the weather,” she said.
Kids aged from 10 to 18 brought craftsmanship, creativity, performances and more to the market, preparing their goods for months before the event.
Ms Vautier said that originally the scouts had held their own youth market and decided to expand into a bigger idea, inviting kids from all over to take part as vendors.
“It was just so beautiful to see them all putting in so much effort and, making their sales, so we decided to make it a community youth market,” she said.
For a fee of ten dollars, kids were invited to front up with their handcrafted goods and services – earning more than a little pocket money for the day.
Some kids used the platform to raise money for platforms and charities as well.
The stalls varied with some wonderful ideas and goods for sale with fairy floss, a ‘knock ‘em down’ stall and even a roller coaster simulator.
“We had so much wonderful feedback. We had one stallholder sell out of their brownies and got an order for a function,” said the market’s post on Facebook after the Sunday event.
“We had kids earning pocket money at their very first stalls, and some seasoned stallholders making very decent takings. We had kids raising money for charity. We had parents thanking us for providing such a supportive platform for their kids.” it read.
Parents spent time volunteering on the Scout sausage sizzle and supporting their kids as buskers entertained the crowd – some as young as nine years old performing.
16-year-old digital artist Allie from Upwey had only tried market vending once before and the Dandenong Ranges Youth Market said was a fantastic place to talk about her art and designs with people who hadn’t seen her work before.
“There was a really fun vibe at the market,” she said.
Parent Dee of Inara, 11 said she loved seeing all the creative kids presenting themselves to the community.
“What a wonderful opportunity to experience the world of business at such a young age – seeing my daughter grin and report back after every sale was a delight,” she said.
Raising funds for the Friends of Koala Foundation, 13 year old Saartje and 12 year old Leah said they were making things for their stall for nearly six months to get ready.
“It’s been really good,” said Saartje.
Ms Vautier hopes the 1st Belgrave Scouts can continue to support the youth of the community and continue to hold the youth market once every six months.
“We will try to hold them in May and October every year,” she said.
