Young entrepreneurs sell wares at Orchard Park Makers Market in Farmington
Jul 24, 2026
Family support is their primary motivator, they said
Young entrepreneurs filled Orchard Park’s Makers Market last Thursday, selling everything from homemade salsa to handcrafted jewelry as mentors and organizers celebrated the growing program that teaches teens financial literacy, business skills and confidence.
The Northwest New Mexico Arts Council and the New Mexico Out‑of‑School Time Network provide mini‑grants, marketing guidance and hands‑on support to help youth launch small businesses at the weekly market. For these teens, family support and encouragement is their biggest motivator.
With mentors helping them design banners, refine pitches and build customer service skills, the young vendors are using the Orchard Park market to test ideas, earn income and take their first steps as entrepreneurs.
The Northwest New Mexico Arts Council sponsors and organizes the market, which is held 3 to 7 p.m. every Thursday at Orchard Plaza Park, 220 N. Orchard Ave.
NWMAC President Flo Trujillo said the council’s goal is teaching the young entrepreneurs financial literacy and customer service.
Ian Gates, Special Projects coordinator for the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network, was up from Albuquerque to support and mentor the young entrepreneurs.
“The New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network (NMOST) is a nonprofit collaboration of public and private organizations and community members seeking to improve access to and quality of out-of-school extended learning programs – before and afterschool, summer learning, and youth development,” it states at nmost.org.
Trujillo said Gates received a scholarship to be able to “inspire them to set up and actually earn some money.”
“We are a statewide organization. We do a whole lot of work in a lot of different areas, but today I’m here because we give a youth entrepreneurship mini grant to Flo and the young entrepreneurs here,” Gates said. “So every young entrepreneur here today gets $250 to support their business ideas.”
A.J. Begay, NWNMAC marketing volunteer and board member, took the youngsters to the Makers Space at San Juan College to make business cards and banners, and she gave them tips on marketing their business.
“My primary job this time was to help the young entrepreneurs market their business and kind of lead them on that nice journey and give them some good tips,” said Begay.
She wants to make sure these kids have support and good people in their lives and they go in the “right direction.”
Begay is an artist who specializes in graphic design and also draws, paints and does beadwork.
Begay, who served in the U.S. Army, recently resigned from the Boys and Girls Club to return to college and earn a master’s degree in digital and strategic communications.
She had a podcast, “Reclaiming Culture,” in which she interviewed Native American artists, bands, entrepreneurs and business people, educators and activists. Begay hopes to revive the podcast soon, as it was a “big hit,” she said.