Tiny Home Festival Contributors
- Christina Wester
- Jan 30, 2021
- 11 min read
Scroll to see the fabulous folks who will be displaying their homes, sharing their tiny home expertise & telling you their personal stories
at the Gather & Create Fest!
We are adding new Contributors every day so join our email list for the latest updates!
Molly & Chuck NamaStay Hideaway 🎤Tiny Home Village Developers/Owners & Former THOW Dweller 🚩Gather & Create Community Partners 🚩
NamaStay Hideaway is tiny living community for THOWs, skoolies, and small RVs. We are in a country setting with stars and coyote howls, but just 10-20 minutes from major cities with entertainment, healthcare, and restaurants. We have big trees, 20 spots, 3 storm shelters, and a fire pit. The owners live on site. The culture is one of acceptance, respect, and living your unique, tiny, but mighty life. Bring your wheels, find your tribe!
Molly & Chuck will have a booth in the "Where to Park your Tiny" area of the festival. They will also be speaking on the Community Connections Stage at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here
Jerry & April Terry Decathlon Tiny Homes 🎤Builders' Panel 🚩Gather & Create Community Partners 🚩 🏠🏠 Displaying 2 THOWs
Decathlon Tiny Homes is a Professional Builder doing great work here in DFW. Many thanks to Jerry & April for supporting the festival as a Community Partner!
Decathlon will have 1-2 THOWs open for tours at the Festival. Jerry will also be speaking on the Builders' Panels at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here.
Battle Born Batteries Lithium-ion Batteries & Other Off-Grid Solutions 🚩Gather & Create Community Partners 🚩
Battle Born Batteries offers a full product line of industry-leading lithium-ion deep cycle batteries to power lives and adventures across industries, including RV, van and overland, marine, and off-grid. Utilizing a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery chemistry (LiFePO4), Battle Born’s products offer an ideal drop-in replacement for lead acid that is lighter, safer, and more powerful.
Based in Reno, Nevada and backed by a knowledgeable Customer Service and Technical Support Specialists team, Battle Born Batteries is a full system integrator, offering products and solutions for entire off-grid power systems. From Batteries to Components to Solar Panels and more, they provide reliable systems of all sizes, for all needs.
Power your time off the grid with Battle Born Batteries!
“The best part of having Battle Born Batteries is the convenience of it. I just want it to work. And that’s what they do.” - Martin Johnson of Off Grid Living
“That’s why I went with lithium batteries. It just lasts longer, it’s maintenance-free, and it’s safer. I can have these batteries for 10 years and just not worry about it.” – Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars
Lindsay Wood The Tiny Home Lady 🎤Go Tiny Academy 🎈VIP Tours and Small Group Q&A 🚩 Gather & Create Community Partner 🚩
Lindsay Wood, "The Tiny Home Lady" is on a mission to develop 100,000 attainable, sustainable Tiny Homes across the US.
When Lindsay's Tiny Home Builder went out of business mid-build, she took matters into her own hands and finished the build! Lindsay took all those challenges and lessons and created the GO TiNY! Academy and the GO TiNY! VIP Tours.
Lindsay is offering GO TiNY! VIP Tours at the Gather and Create Festival! Click on the video to learn more about the Tours.
Skip the lines with the Pre-Show VIP Tours. VIP Tickets are on sale now & include a weekend pass to the festival + the curated tours and personalized Q&A time with Linsday. The Tiny Home Lady will also be speaking on the Community Connections Stage at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here.
Saleem Malik Tiny Home Dealer & Financing Expert 🎈Little Homes of Texas 🏠 Displaying a THOW
Saleem is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and he served 9 years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. After moving to Houston, he spent 13 years in the Oil & Gas Industry as a Construction Engineer and Project Manager before entering the Real Estate business. He has over 25 years of real estate investing and property management experience.
Sal will share his wisdom & experience on financing & the process of purchasing various kinds of Tiny Homes. Stop by the Little Homes of Texas booth to ask him all your questions!
Jefre Outlaw Real Estate Entrepreneur, ModTech Designer, Hausfli Founder 🎤 Speaking on Several Panels 🚎 Displaying a Tiny
A sought-after consultant and speaker in today's affordable housing industry with experience in unique funding structures developing simple, smart, sustainable housing communities and an expert in applied referral marketing principles that work to generate business outcomes from peer-to-peer professional networks. Starting in 2013 I focused on offsite manufacturing, tiny homes on wheels (THOWS) and modular homes as primary homes and ADU’s. Well educated on all of the offsite certification requirements including RVIA, ANSI a119.5, HUD, ASTM, IRC and ICC. In 2021 added working in the real estate technology industry (RealTech) focused on build to rent (BTR) and using big data to determine highest and best development locations for rentals nationwide. ModTech designer with factory contracts for both volumetric and panelized certified modular homes in Texas and looking to expand.
I eat a lot of tacos and drink a lot of coffee with people who share my passion for value-based investments, value-added partnerships, and lengthy conversations about housing value-chains. I am also a Texan born and raised with a background in banking, property insurance and corporate legal compliance with experience in commercial real estate brokerage and land development and urban planning.
Jefre will share his Tiny experience & wisdom and answer your questions on stage at the Builders Panel, Land Developers Panel & Financing Panel
Speaker's Page is here.
He will be displaying his rare 2005 Airstream Mercedes Westfalia James Cook Limited Edition Camper Van. It sleeps 4 and rides 5 with seatbelts. It is truly a marvel with only 250 of them imported from Europe. The van is for sale: $79,9000
Thaddeus Komorowski Tiny Homeowner Tiny Builder & Former Tiny Dweller 🎤 Speaking on the Homeowners Panel
Thaddeus is from Abilene, Texas. After college, he worked as an intern architect where he was introduced to the idea of a "Tiny House". In 2013 Thaddeus started building his own tiny house "Rustic Red." Thaddeus was working as a school teacher at that time and only worked on his tiny house during the summers. After 3 years he was able to move it to Dallas and finish out the interior. During the next few years Thaddeus would help other people building their tiny homes and taking "Rustic Red" to EarthX on earth day in 2018 and 2019. At EarthX he ran into a long time friend, Peter, who had started a business building tiny houses called Indigo River Tiny Homes. Thaddeus asked if he could work for Indigo River during that summer and now works for IRTH as a consultant. Overall, Thaddeus lived in his tiny house for 7 years. He recently married and now lives in Fort Worth with his wife Allison.
Thaddeus will share his Tiny experience & wisdom and answer your questions on stage at the Tiny Homeowners Panel.
Casie & Igor Tomaz Coast to Coast Tiny Builders & Dwellers 🚎 Displaying an RV Renovation
We are Casie & Igor, a husband and wife that renovate RVs full-time while parenting our wild four children. Our signature feature in all builds is including something uniquely yours and adding a little epoxy magic. We can’t wait to talk over your future, come find us!
Casie & Igor will share their almost finished RV Renovation & answer your questions at the Tomaz Coast to Coast Booth & on stage.
Terri Wehunt Tiny Dweller Indigo River Homeowner & Downsizing Queen! 🎤 Speaking on the Homeowners Panel
Terri is a Texas native, a mother of two & grandmother of three. She's been a tiny home owner for two and a half years & works full time as director of catering/convention services for a hotel. She is looking forward to retirement in a few years when she can enjoy her tiny house 24/7. About a year ago, Tiny House Expedition featured Terri and her house on their channel!
Stop by the Indigo River Booth to check out the book Terri made on the process of building her home.
Terri will share her Tiny experience & downsizing wisdom and she will answer your questions on stage at the Tiny Homeowners Panel.
Terry Lantrip Tiny Home Village Pioneer 🎤Tiny Home Land Development Panel (Saturday) 🎈Lake Dallas Tiny Home Village
Terry Lantrip is a local celebrity & pioneer in the DFW Tiny Home Community. He worked for YEARS cutting through red tape with the City of Lake Dallas (a Dallas suburb) to develop & open the Lake Dallas Tiny Home Village. The property was the first Tiny Home Village of its kind in the US: built from scratch within city limits. All previous Tiny Home Villages inside of city limits were RV park or mobile home park conversions. It wasn't easy, but thanks to Terry's persistence & the help of B.A. Norgard & the DFW Tiny Home Enthusiasts coming to city council meetings & volunteering for work days at the village, LDTHV opened to residents in 2019.
Terry will share his wisdom & experience on the Tiny Home Land Development Panel on the Community Connections Stage at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here.
April & Marvin Shockey Tiny Home Village Developers 🎤Tiny Home Land Development Panel 🎈Cozy Acre Tiny Home Community
April & Marvin Shockey are the owners of Cozy Acre Tiny Home Community in downtown Poolville, TX. They have been avid tiny home lovers for many years. As residents of a local suburb in Fort Worth (now in nearby Springtown) and maintaining full-time jobs in the metroplex, moving out to the Cozy Acres property was just not an option. April is in the accounting field and Marvin is an elevator technician.
The Shockeys received the property after long-time resident and April's father, Carl Minteer passed away. Initially they were not exactly sure what to do with the property, but they knew it was special with so many trees and a creek running through it. After extended conversations with Dianne Minteer and a couple of long-time friends of Carl Minteer, it was determined that a tiny home community might be an exciting adventure. And then Covid hit. But on July 9, 2020, after the purchase of a John Deere Tractor and some steel-toed boots, the adventure began, and they embarked on a vision to bring tiny homes to the NO stop light town of Poolville.
April & Marvin will share their experience & wisdom on the Tiny Home Land Development Panel on the Community Connections Stage at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here.
Shane & Emily Arbour Season 🎤Music Stage Performers & Tiny Home Dwellers 🚌 Displaying 1 Skoolie!
Shane & Emily are an indie/folk husband and wife duo who draw inspiration from the incredible adventures we experience all across North America in our converted school bus/home. Our unique journey inspires the ambient folk sound that captures the serenity of the Western vistas, the rhythms of the Eastern coastlines, and the brilliance of the national forests. We express our passion for life through music and invite you to travel with us by listening to the intricate instrumentation, layered harmonies and lyrics that tell our stories.
Shane, Emily & family will be opening their home for folks to tour and ask them questions about life on the road! They will also be performing live! Music Stage Schedule is here!
Valerie Ballard Operation Tiny House - DFW 🇺🇸Non-Profit serving Veterans 🎤Speaking on Land Development for Tiny Homes in Dallas 🏠🏠🏠 Displaying 3 THOWs!
Operation Tiny House (in DFW) raises funds for tiny houses with community partners and supporters. Together they help veterans secure housing and employment to improve their lives. Indigo River has been working with OTH & Valerie since 2019 and she's the real deal! She and her many wonderful volunteers have been working hard to create a Tiny Home Village for Veterans as well as providing other housing & employment services. Valerie has many years of experience working with municipalities to gain more acceptance for Tiny Homes & create Tiny Home Villages within city limits.
OTH will have a booth & 3 THOWs at the festival. Valerie will also be speaking on the Community Connections Stage at the Festival. Speaker's Page is here.
Sandy Blair Operation WEBS 🇺🇸Non-Profit serving Female Veterans 🏠 Displaying 1 THOW
Operation WEBS (Women Empowered Build Strong) founded by veteran Sandy Blair is an organization that is building high quality tiny homes on wheels to provide stable and safe housing opportunities for displaced female veterans. The website is https://operationwebs.org/. After serving 12 years on active duty in the US Air Force, Sandy returned back to face a host of medical problems including mental health issues. Her re-entry back to "normal" civilian life paralleled many similar vets, plagued with challenges which she discusses frankly and honestly on her website. Sandy enrolled in a technical college in GA to study residential construction and later obtained her California real estate license in 2014, leading to the 501(c)3 Corp, Operation WEBS, founded to build tiny homes on wheels (THOW) as sustainable housing solutions for anyone desiring affordable home ownership. As the founder of Operation WEBS (OpWEBS), Sandy is now providing sustainable housing solutions to those facing homelessness. She is towing a THOW to Gather & Create to be on tour. She is a fascinating and truly inspiring individual making a difference.
Operation WEBS will have a booth and 1 THOW at the festival.
Kastin Nebe Wendy The Skoolie 🧰 DIY Vehicle Conversion & Former Skoolie Dweller 🏗 Professional Vehicle Conversions 🚌 Bringing 1 Skoolie
Kastin built this short school bus conversion & named her Wendy! Since then several folks have hired him to convert their vehicles into Tiny Homes. Check out his Instagram Story where he recorded the process of converting Wendy from School Bus to Skoolie:
Kastin will be giving tours of Wendy & answering your questions. 🎈Wendy will also be available for sale! 🎈
Driftwood Tiny Homes 🏗 Professional Builders 🏠 Bringing 1 Park Model Tiny Home
Peter & Christina Indigo River Tiny Homes 🏗Professional Builders & Former Tiny Dwellers 🎤 Speaker on the Builders' Panel 🚩Gather & Create Organizers & Presenting Sponsors 🚩 🏠🏠🏠🏠 Bringing 4 THOWs!
Peter is a minimalist. Christina is a maximalist. Together they lead the team at Indigo River in creating kick-ass Tiny Homes for full-size living in a tiny footprint. They are excited to create a space in Dallas for the Tiny Living, Nomadic & DIY communities to gather, share & collaborate!
Indigo River will have a booth & 4 THOWs at the festival. 🎈3 of them will be for sale. 🎈 Peter will be speaking on the Builder's Panels & Christina will be speaking on the Airbnb/Vacation Rentals Panel. Speaker's Page is here.
Southfork Ranch 🎪Festival Venue 🎪
Southfork is the PERFECT VENUE for a Tiny Home Festival! (Soooo many 50 amp plugs ready for us!) 🤣 They are also giving our festival goers free parking & discounts on Guided Tours of the Southfork Mansion, Grounds & Museum of !
Grab your Tickets now for 1 or 2-day passes to the Festival, Discounted Southfork Tours +
Free Parking
And you can upgrade to the GO TiNY VIP Tours for personal guidance on your Tiny Home Goals
Tour tickets include 2-Day passes to the Festival (Southfork Tours & Parking)
+
An invitation to the Networking Happy Hour with Festival Contributors on Saturday from 5-7pm
The Gather & Create Fest will be a Tiny Home Show and so much more!
Why "Gather & Create?"
At Indigo River, we know that Strong Community & Cultivating Creativity are what we need to solve most (if not all!) of the challenges facing humans & the world today.
Our company's long-term goals include supporting the Tiny Living & DIY communities in DFW so this spring we are creating a space near Dallas where folks can gather to:
share ideas
facilitate collaborative relationships
investigate alternative options for living our best lives individually & collectively
"Gather & Create" was inspired by some of our favorite musicians,
Nahko Bear & Medicine for the People:
"And they sang:
Don't waste your hate.
Rather, gather and create.
Be of service.
Be a sensible person.
Use your words & don't be nervous.
You can do this.
You've got purpose.
Find your medicine & use it."
Listen to the song here:
We hope you can join us at any or all of our UPCOMING EVENTS this spring!
❤️ Peter, Christina & Team IRTH ❤️
Just starting your Tiny Research? Curious about the Festival?
Learn more from our podcast series featuring Lindsay , The Tiny Home Lady!
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Join us for Episode 3 Live on Thursday 4/4 @ 4pm CDT
Completed Tiny homes for sale...
Click here for move-in-ready homes currently available for sale - no waiting for a custom build!
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