The Mini-Society® program was brought to the Shenandoah Valley in the mid-1990s by Martha Hopkins, who then was the SVEE-funded teacher consultant working out of the JMU Center for Economic Education.
Hopkins took a group of three local teachers for Mini-Society training in Los Angeles, and all three implemented the program in their Harrisonburg and Rockingham County classrooms. The program rapidly grew, and in 1998 the first area-wide marketplace for Mini-Society classrooms was held. Known as the GEM Fair (for "Global Entrepreneurship Marketplace" Fair), the original event was held in the Phillips Ballroom at JMU. It has since grown to an event bringing hundreds of students each spring to the JMU Convocation Center.