The Tiny House ‘Sturgis’ Coming to Colorado this Weekend
Tiny houses are, to borrow a hopefully soon-to-be-retired expression, trending. I believe this trendingness is attributable to their role as the architectural embodiment of our collective exhaustion with too much physical, financial and psychic overhead. They provide just what a single person or couple need and nary a thing more. But there are few legal places to park them outside Portland, leaving many folks who would live in a tiny house unable to do so. In order to become a real movement, tiny houses and the folks that love them need to consolidate power. There needs to be a visible groundswell of support, showing legislators that tiny homes are more than some backyard dalliance with simple living. The Tiny House Jamboree this weekend (August 7-9, 2015), in Colorado Springs might just help create that groundswell.
The Jamboree looks to be the worlds’ largest tiny house gathering to date. Jay Shafer, Deek Diedricksen and most all of the biggest names in tiny living will be in attendance. There will be a ton of builders, vendors and other tiny house related exhibitors, making it the perfect venue for folks looking to take the tiny plunge. The event’s organizers are expecting a huge turnout to the free event. I emailed Marcus Alvarado, one of the event’s head coordinators a few questions to find out more about the event.
DF: What the are the intentions and goals behind the jamboree?
MA: The 2015 National Tiny House Jamboree aims to bring together the community of tiny house builders and sustainable-living enthusiasts in celebration of the ever-growing Tiny House Movement. EcoCabins’ Marketing Director, Coles Whalen, puts it best by saying, “The movement is rooted in sort of a counter-cultural idea: smaller environmental footprint, tighter-knit communities, a debt-free lifestyle”. This movement means so much, to so many different people, from so many different backgrounds, it’s a simply a melting-pot that aims to flip the script on what a normal US dwelling should look like. We hope to bring this vision to the largest celebration this community has ever seen!
DF: How many people do you expect to attend and where are most of them coming from?
MA: As of today [August 1], we are upwards of 9,000 registrants from all 50 states and 14 countries! Most of the registrants are coming from Colorado, Texas, California, New Mexico and Kansas. Outside of the US, Canada has the most registrants with Australia and Germany tied for the second most.
DF: What do you see as the highlights of the jamboree?
MA: That’s hard to say when we have been jamming the “Jam” with all tons of special happenings! We have an all-star group of speakers that are set to present at the Jamboree including: Andrew Morrison, Jay Shafer, Derek “Deek” Diedricksen, Zack Giffen from Tiny House Nation, and a whole lot of others you wouldn’t want to miss! We will have drawings routinely handing-out giveaways from our 30+ vendors, a Mini Chapel for couples to renew their vows, a gypsy wagon stage auction, live music, along with a presentations from Sketchup and IKEA. To top it all off, We also will be screening “Small is Beautiful: A Tiny House Documentary” at a local movie theater. And did I mention we are going to have builders from all around the nation exhibiting? We’re excited!
DF: Anything else you would like to tell our readers about the event?
MA: We are aiming to make this event to be the “Sturgis” of the tiny house movement with a fun-packed jamboree that goes against the grain of conventional celebrations. We also offered “Open-Camping” to 50 lucky attendees for free! However, when everything is said and done, we have worked incredibly hard to make this event significant enough for this community to take and call their own. See ya all there!
Visit their website for more information.