Young entrepreneurs supply prizes for Cereal Kids Rodeo
By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com
The kids who participate at the Cereal rodeo love to receive prizes, therefore it was very fitting that two young entrepreneurs from the area supplied some handcrafted awards.
Peachy’s Bee Balm
Ten-year-old Ava Kuhn from Peachy’s Bee Balm, based out of Acadia Valley, supplied fifty all natural lip balms as prizes.
Ava launched Peachy’s Bee Balm in the spring of 2020. Her mom, Yolanda Kuhn said it all started earlier that year when Ava insisted she wanted to help the homeless. However living in Acadia Valley made that somewhat challenging. Nevertheless, the youngster made a bunch of crafts and went door to door selling them to people around town.
Ava and her mom checked out the women’s shelter in Medicine Hat, and Ava decided that was a cause to which she wanted to contribute. Because Ava had been experimenting with different lip balm recipes, her mom looked up some recipes which used all natural ingredients and it just started from there. Her company, Peachy’s Bee Balm was born. Peachy has been Ava’s nickname since she was a baby.
Now Ava donates 25 percent of her earnings to the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter. So far she has been able to donate $275 to this worthwhile cause.
“It takes me about an hour to make a batch of 50 tubes,” Ava said. “I think it’s fun, but my mom thinks it’s too much and I need to just be a kid.”
As far as she knows, Ava is the only kid who has her own business. “But I have a friend who cuts people’s grass,” she said.
When Ava’s not making lip balm, she enjoys being involved in dance and gymnastics and “BUGGING MY BROTHER”, she exclaimed.
“I’m going to take a babysitter’s course,” she said. “But I hope I can keep my business going.” She currently sells her lip balms out of her home, through her Facebook page and at The Store in Acadia Valley.
MK Performance Ponies and Braiding
Kayl Hankins, who is in Grade 8, and his sister Maysa, in Grade 5 from Stettler, operate MK Performance Ponies and Braiding. While Kayla makes tea towels and crafts, Kayl braids halters. Cereal Rodeo ordered 23 halters for prizes, three of which Kayl donated. He also makes bucket hangers and cavesons, which are adjustable and tie like a rope halter.
“The rope I buy is marine double braided nylon and is tested in strength and doesn’t fade like polypropylene rope. All my rope is 100 percent Canadian made,” he said. That’s important to Kayl. He has a selection of fifteen to twenty different colours, and 100 different colours of the nose band, providing a lot of different colour combinations.
Kayl and his sister started their business venture about a year and a half ago. “It took me three hours to make a halter when I first started; now it takes me about an hour,” he said, saying he learned how to braid at 4H Day in January of 2020. “I did it a little bit and then thought I could sell them.”
Now Kayl’s braided products have sold from coast to coast. “I’ve sold to all the provinces except Quebec,” Kayl said. He also had sales to the United States and “we just sent one to England”. Kayl estimates he sold 350 halters so far and has easily made 500. Much of his business comes from his Facebook page and Instagram page.
Of course Kayl’s mom helps out as well. “Braids need to be burned, melted at the end so they can’t be undone. She does all that,” Kayl said. “She runs everything to the post office, orders the rope and pays for it with her credit card, and I pay her back.”
Because Kayl and his family travel a lot to rodeos, he is taking his schooling online, which allows much more flexibility. “If I get my school work done by noon, I can make halters the rest of the day,” Kayl said. He uses every opportunity to braid halters ... while watching TV or You Tube and while he’s travelling on the road.
Both Kayl and his sister like to ride and train ponies. Proceeds from his business sales have been used to pay for a stud fee for his horse. He also bought a hunting bow, and he and his sister bought a horse, and still have money in the bank.
Business is looking good, with customers requesting more products such as neck ropes for calf roping and cattle halters. “But I haven’t had time to design those yet,” Kayl said. Nevertheless he says he plans to continue his business for a long time. After all ... “I’m just getting started,” the 13-year-old said.
