By: Becky Hoving ’17 and Alice Hickson ’17

The Westport Youth Commission (WYC) is hosting the first ever “Student Creation Faire” May 21, 2017 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Saugatuck Rowing Club and will be catered by the Boathouse restaurant.
WYC president Renée Weisz ’17 spearheaded the event, which was inspired by a boom in student business and will host vendors from the Westport Public School district as well as any student who lives in Westport but does not attend public school.
Student businesses are asked to fill out an online application, posted in the Staples Superfan group, and will hear back from the commission upon review of applications in early May.
“With the abundance of student business at Staples and in Westport, we thought it would be a great idea to bring them all together in one place,” Nicole Arellano ’18, a member of the Town-Improvements Sub Committee, said.
Grace Shi ’19 and Amanda Cohen ’19 hope to showcase their bath bomb business and spread awareness about natural alternatives to brand products. Both Shi and Cohen were also drawn to the opportunity of an all-student-run event. “We applied because we wanted to meet other people who also started businesses,” Shi said. “It’s pretty inspiring to see just a bunch of people who had an idea and grew it.”
Arellano noted that the setup of the event is relatively simple and relies on student participation.
“We’re basically going to set up a bunch of different tables and allow each business to sell their products,” Arellano said. “Our mission is to provide a platform for student creators to share their work with the community, and in doing so, fill a need and promote a resource for peer-to-peer connection by way of interest in local student creation.”
Sam Laskin ’20, another member of the commission, expressed that if the Faire were successful, the WYC would consider expanding it. “I personally hope we can make the Faire into an annual event, so more students have the opportunity to participate,” Laskin said.