When Lynée Fife signed her kids up for Utah’s first Kids Markets, a program launched by the Libertas Network to empower children to pursue entrepreneurship, she was not thinking about policy or free-market economics.
Eight years later, she is the program’s executive director, overseeing markets in all 50 states.
“I’m a mom of four entrepreneurs myself. They taught piano, they washed windows, and sold caramel apples,” Fife said of her children. “We didn’t set out to go that route. It just kind of fell in our lap.”
Fife told IW Features that she wasn’t sure what to expect when she signed her daughters up for the very first Kids Markets in 2017, in Utah. But as she watched her kids gain confidence and lifelong skills throughout the program, Fife said she was inspired to apply for a position the following year.
“The next year I was hired to run the program here in Utah, and here we are eight years later and in all 50 states,” Fife said.
Kids Markets was inspired by a Utah law passed in 2017, now known as the Lemonade Stand Law, removing the requirement of permits and licenses for kids running small businesses. Kids Markets grew out of that legislation, with Libertas Network—the parent organization that lobbied for the law—providing the policy backbone.
“Prior to that, there were some crazy stories in the news about police shutting down lemonade stands because they didn’t have a $200 permit to sell a 50-cent cup of lemonade. And so here in Utah, we passed that law and with that newfound freedom, Kids Markets was born,” Fife said.
The markets are entirely run by the kids who participate, and. the events are embedded in high-traffic community gatherings, such as local farmers’ markets, in order to provide the kids with a consumer base.
“We have local managers all over the country who partner with established community events that have a lot of foot traffic, and that’s our model,” Fife said. “These events agree to let us join them, set up, and then this just gives the kids hundreds, sometimes thousands of potential customers. Instead of a child out on the sidewalk in front of their house selling lemonade and trying to flag down customers, we bring them all the customers.”
Businesses through Kids Markets offer many products, including 3D-printed items, hand-painted acrylic nails, single-serving charcuterie boards, and even an innovative form of journalism from an 8-year-old who interviews other kid vendors and sells the recordings to the parents, according to Fife. The kids’ ages range from 5 to 17, and with no regulations on what is sold or how it is sold, the markets operate as fully free markets.
Fife said the markets offer an economic lesson to children that goes beyond the classroom.
“They may not know what profit means, but you better believe they know how much money they are making after every transaction,” Fife said. “The best part about it is the kids don’t even know what they’re learning. They just think it’s fun and they’re making money.”
Parents are encouraged to step back entirely, Fife said. They are instructed not to engage with customers or help with transactions—the kids handle every facet of selling their products in the open market.
“Your child will do better if you step back and let them do it,” Fife explained.
It is countercultural in the best ways, Fife said. The structure of the program is deliberately engineered to cultivate a space for kids to fail, adapt, and grow without adult interference. Once the kids learn about what works and fails, the kids have the opportunity to try again at another market.
In this way, Kids Markets not only allows children to get involved in small-business building—it also mobilizes families to civic engagement. For example, when an Arizona city attempted to tax the Kids Markets’ earnings, families showed up and advocated for change. An 11-year-old testified before the legislature, and Arizona ended up passing its own lemonade stand law in 2024.
“States and cities, they won’t really know that this is a problem until we go show them there is a problem,” Fife said. “Until we show up and someone is trying to take a cut from a kid. It’s just insane.”
The Kids Markets are not short-lived experiences for children, either. They encourage full participation and later help kids create serious businesses, Fife said.
For example, Jethro Peretto attended the very first Kids Markets eight years ago. His father left when he was young, and he started selling caramel apples because he didn’t want to grow up poor. Jet now operates business ventures grossing over $100,000 a year, Fife said.
“He started mentoring his younger brother and employing his friends,” Fife said. “It opened up a world of possibilities to him where you can take control of your own life.”
Another success story, Floss Cotton Candy, debuted at Kids Markets and is now in 100 brick-and-mortar stores, according to Fife.
In other words, it is not an anomaly to walk away from the markets successfully—that’s the entire point.
With 80,000 kids currently involved in Kids Markets, Fife hopes to reach 500,000 kids within five years. Fife said they also hope to develop a mentorship program pairing adults and kids, and to bring markets to underserved communities.
“The only way you are successful is when you are filling a need, you are solving a problem,” Fife said. “I can’t think of school classes that teach such a concept. But by participating in this program, they know how to manage their time, manage their money, and they know the value of a dollar.”
