MINNEAPOLIS — The Black Entrepreneur State Fair hopes to boost business for over 60 Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities.
“All of the businesses that are involved in this event are very underinvested, so this is a big platform for economic development for these Black businesses,” said Destinee Shelby, the founder and CEO of Black Entrepreneur State Fair.
Shelby said the fair started in 2020, after the Minnesota State Fair announced it would shut down for a year because of the pandemic.
Five years later, Shelby said her small idea turned into something much bigger.
“These sales matter,” she said. “It really makes or breaks their year. Some of these businesses, this event keeps them afloat.”
She said this fair gives these businesses a platform to reach a wider audience and is a place where some people launch their business.
Jewel Jones has been coming to the fair for five years to sell her products. She’s the founder and owner of Alkaline Academy, a business focusing on preventative healthcare, inspired by her own journey.
“My entire life I was disabled, and literally was in the hospital every week,” she said. “I wasn’t supposed to live past 22, and then I wasn’t supposed to walk as an adult. I can walk, I play basketball, I can skate.”
Jones is 35 years old. She said transitioning her diet from an acidic to alkaline lifestyle changed her life.
“It also helped me get off 28 medications, so I stand, and I live by this,” Jones said. “Your food should be your medicine.”
She wrote a children’s book to teach kids about the power of herbs, and another book about her health journey. She also just finished schooling to become a chiropractor.
She’s hoping to grow her business into an actual school one day. Jones said having a sport at the fair each year has helped her business grow. She only does four events every, and this one is her biggest one.
“It actually boosts me for the wintertime, so I get all inventory after this, and it helps me reach a bigger audience, and not only does it help me reach them, I can be one-on-one with them in-person more,” she said.
Jacqueline McGill is a first timer at the Black Entrepreneur State Fair. She launched her business, Mz. Chicks Wings & Things last December.
“One of my passions is cooking,” McGill said. “I decided to say bye-bye to my regular 9 to 5 and went all in.”
She’s only been at the fair for one day, but she said she has already seen the benefits.
“Oh, my goodness, this is what has catapulted us,” she said.
As a new business, McGill said the exposure is crucial to her success. She’s currently doing pop-up events and hopes to get her trailer up and running by next spring.
“I want to be a staple for the fair,” she said. “We’re just going to keep pushing and whatever obstacles; we’re going to hurdle them because I plan on getting a gold medal in this food industry.”
Shelby said another benefit the fair provides is an opportunity to learn and grow, so they can take their business to the next level.
“The Minnesota State Fair is such a larger scale platform than this, if these businesses were invited to the Minnesota State Fair today, they would not be prepared as far as just capital, staff, you know being prepared for a large-scale event. They need stuff like this to learn to get to that level,” she said.
She said the waiting list to get into the state fair is also extensive, so she said this fair gives businesses a much-needed platform.
Shelby said it’s vital for the community to support Black-owned businesses, so they can thrive. She said small businesses feel the impact of a dollar much more than a bigger company.
“I think the difference is that this is community. The people that are coming out here and supporting each other and sticking together is from this community,” she said.
Shelby said her goal is to have at least 10,000 people attend the week-long fair this year.
The fair is being held in the parking lot of The Cabooze between now and Aug. 31. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.