Brisk trade springs up for Mushroom Kids

It seems there is no age limit for the Gordonton Country Market’s rural entrepreneurs, discovers N8N market reporter Ciaran Warner.

May’s Market saw the re-appearance of veteran mushroom sellers Marcus Clements, 11, Maddy Stroud, 12, and Caleb Stroud, 13, hawking their freshly picked wares for just a few dollars a bag.

“We pick them up from out in Ohaupo, and pack them into bags,” says Caleb. “We usually make a pretty good profit, after expenses, like paying for the drive out to Ohaupo.

“We really like the market, its good fun,” adds Maddy.

And it shows. The youngsters have been manning (and womaning) their stall since the second appearance of the Gordonton Market, and hope to be here for many more to come.

However, this is far from the only business venture undertaken by the savvy lot, which includes their other siblings and friends.

“We make and sell lemonade in the summer, we do blueberries and blackberries as well,” explains Caleb. “Next thing we do will probably be balloons.” (We’ll keep you up on this development, it could be very interesting, ed)

The three marketeers have since been using the name ‘KidsBiz’ to promote themselves.

“They save for big projects with the money they make, like Parachute tickets,” says Karyn Stroud, committee member and mum of Maddy and Caleb.

“Anything they need, they arrange for themselves with their own earnings. They started selling the mushrooms, and then decided to employ Marcus as the town crier, calling out ‘Mushrooms! Fresh Mushrooms!’ They’ve done really well since then,” says Karyn.

Keep an eye out for KidsBiz, and whatever fine, fresh goods they happen to be selling, at the next market. (That’s Saturday 8 June, by the way.)

Here’s some background shots of the Number 8 Team in action  – Iris Riddell wrangles the kids for a photograph:

While Ciaran is hard at work scribing – well done team!