Despite having recently lost a family pet, Katie Merritt was smiling as she sat behind her booth on Allen Street yesterday.
"We're gonna get a new dog," she said.
The 9-year-old from State College was selling handcrafted clay pens with faces modeled on them at the Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale, kicking off the 40th annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. She hopes to use the money she makes from selling the pens to help pay for a new dog.
The Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale had Allen Street packed from College Avenue to Fairmont Avenue with festival-goers eager to buy youth-created art.
The young artists ran most of the tents and booths that lined each side of the street. The parents stayed in the background, mostly supervising the children.
Lisa Hackman, of State College, a parent of two of the artists, said since her daughters started making pirate toys and accessories in 1998, their tent sale has matured into somewhat of a small business every year.
"I think creative play is always a winner," Hackman said.
The young entrepreneurs are also learning how to make change and calculate prices, she added.
Animal lovers Grant Davis and Bryan Smith decided to be philanthropic with their earnings.
The boys, both in 5th grade, were selling houses made of playing cards. They love animals and decided to donate half of their money to the Promotion of Animal Welfare and Safety (PAWS). Even though they were near the end of Allen Street, they had only one card house left near closing time.
"Kids like them," Davis said.
Jeannine Kolln, 8, her friends Tamar Schejter, 10, Grace Miller, 7, and sister, Eleanor Kolln, 5, all learned finger knitting, braiding and crocheting to create their products.
The group made potholders, scarves, key rings and cat toys to sell at its first Arts Festival.
Sena Agawu, 13, learned to take advantage of Goodwill stores to make her homemade skirts. Agawu buys jeans from Goodwill stores, cuts off the legs and then sews decorative fabric on the bottom.
The idea came to her after buying a similar skirt from Kaufmann's. Each skirt takes about three hours to make and costs about $9, Agawu said. At first she didn't know what to charge for them, but after consulting her friends, she decided on $23.
"I just asked my friends what they would pay for them," she said.
Agawu has been coming to the Arts Festival for four years, but this is the first time she has made skirts to sell.
All the money that the child artists made is theirs to keep. Some want to save up for an iPod or a digital camera. David Krum, 6, is going to use it for spending money when he and his family go on vacation later in the summer.
Krum, who is an avid Harry Potter fan, decided to make "magic" wands. He wanted to buy one, but his parents convinced him to make his own instead. This idea prompted him to make and sell wands for the Arts Festival, he said.
"It's a pretty hot item," Krum's mother, Melissa, said.
