By Michelle Lovato

Leader reporter

reporter@leaderadvertiser.com

POLSON – Two girls sat in lawn chairs out in front of the Holmes Fine Art booth at this year’s Summerfest Art in the Park event Aug. 9.

For Macy, 7 of Polson, the entrepreneurial spirit came alive when she fell in love with an expensive doll, complete with changeable clothes and a cute dress-hat combo – sold separately.

But her Mommy, Heather Holmes, said Macy had to earn the money. So earlier this summer, she went to someone she could trust for advice; her big sister Mattison.

You see, Mattison is 10 and a veteran money maker. She just finished fourth grade at Linderman Elementary School and one of Mattison’s class projects last year was to make an item to sell at ‘Market.’

Mattison made a nice little pocket of change by painting specially chosen rocks decorated with different colors of paint and black lines and dots. The cute little ladybugs were popular at school.

But Mattison’s desire for creating something unique and beautiful grew over the summer, and along with her mom Mattison bought supplies and patterns to make a variety of colorful duct tape items: Present bows, hair bows, flower pens and wallets.

So Macy inherited the sure-thing kid business: Lady bug rocks. A contented Macy sat at her fair booth sipping lemon water with her new doll wearing its special dress and hat. Mattison sat diligently a few feet from her sister, in charge of her business like a miniature version of her mom.

Charmed booth visitors doled dollars out left and right to the two girls. In order to make the 450 rock/lady bugs, the two girls had to first hunt for perfect stones.

“These are special rocks,” Mattison said. “We had to go hunt for them.”

Mattison said they found their treasure in the Jette area.

“They were in my front yard.” she said.