Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

COLUMBUS—As the Summer Columbus Markets kick off this month, they’ve welcomed several new and old vendors to 40 Courthouse Square on Saturdays. One of the newer vendors is a local “egg-trepreneur,” seven-year-old Braylee Pace of Sunny View, who operates a table at the Columbus Market aptly titled Braylee’s Eggs, where she looks to sell marketgoers farm-fresh eggs direct from her own personal flock of chickens. 

After her parents bought her the first dozen chicks, she began selling eggs and saved up her egg money to buy an incubator. Now, her flock is at roughly sixty chickens of all varieties. Braylee began working at the end of last summer’s market, making this her second season. 

Braylee’s parents previously sold produce at the Summer Market, where she met Dawn Jordan, the Ag Economic Development Director. 

“I started to get too many eggs, and I met Dawn and really liked her, so I asked if I could sell my eggs at the Market, and she said yes, so now I work down here with her,” says Braylee. 

“I’m thrilled to see our young entrepreneurs like Braylee coming out to the market willing to get up early in the morning and set up,” says Jordan. “Folks love buying from young people.”

Chickens are not the only animals in Braylee’s care. She also has a pet rabbit she shares with her brother, a dog, guinea pigs, and a horse. She plans to continue raising chickens and already has Rhode Island Reds, silkies, meat birds, Golden Brahmas, and ducks in her flock. 

“I have a chicken that runs around outside and will let me pet it named Lindy and two roosters, Red and Biddy,” says Braylee. 

Her father, Lee Pace, says, “She does it all herself, even setting up the table. I’m just the chauffeur. She says ‘Daddy, I need more feed or I need more egg cartons.’ I get her where she needs to go, and she does the rest.” 

Lee also stressed the important life lessons Braylee was learning through running her business. 

Her sales pitch is simple: “God has blessed us with these eggs. So come on down to the Farmers Market and get your farm-fresh eggs.” 

The young entrepreneur is fully invested in her business and hopes the community will take notice and pay her a visit. For more information on the Polk County Farmers Markets, visit polkcountyfarms.org.