BRATTLEBORO — Tiny House Fest Vermont in downtown Brattleboro is entering its third year with some significant changes.
The annual one-day festival, held in early September its first two years, will now be held in June - Saturday, June 23, to be specific.
Also this year, this regional event that explores visions of future housing and public space is supported by a new partnership between the original founders of the festival and Vermont's Yestermorrow Design/Build School.
Fest co-founders Erin Maile O'Keefe and Lisa Kuneman have formed the Brattleboro Office of Cultural Affairs to produce the event. In a news release, they say that teaming up with Yestermorrow Design/Build School will extend the Fest's reach and increase its capacity to meet overwhelming interest in the event.
“As a designer, Yestermorrow has offered me an incredible lab to innovate for my own changing housing needs,” said Maile O'Keefe. “Their partnership in the Fest offers the capacity to meet growing interest in tiny houses and, even more, the growing need to re-examine housing and community development for the 21st Century.”
Yestermorrow founder John Connell said his organization is a natural partner for the Office of Cultural Affairs. Likening its values to those of tiny house enthusiasts, he said that “we must all take on the trans-generational challenges of climate change, social equity, and environmental preservation, and Yestermorrow is concerned with housing solutions that promote equitable community and minimize environmental impact.”
The school has pioneered coursework for the layperson since 1980 at its campus facility in Waitsfield and, more recently, throughout New England. In 2013, Yestermorrow presented the nation's first Tiny House Fair.
With a track record of bringing thousands of people to downtown businesses, Tiny House Fest organizers say they will maintain their focus on igniting the experience of community in an underused area of the downtown center.
Tiny House Fest Vermont was designed to be a platform for a regionally-focused, public conversation about the way we live, involving an expansive audience of community members, professionals, educators, businesses, nonprofits and policy makers from Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and beyond.
In 2017, the pop-up Tiny House Village on Flat Street featured 24 tiny houses (up from seven in the Fest's inaugural year), and doubled the number of presentations. Despite rain delivered by Hurricane Harvey, ticket sales grew from the year before, and exhibitors expressed satisfaction with the surprisingly strong flow of attendees.
This year's programming line-up continues to put tiny housing options and their attainability at the center - making them a starting point for a larger conversation.
Also this year, students of Yestermorrow's newly-established Tiny House Design/Build Certificate Program will build a tiny house on wheels for a real client in the Brattleboro area.
The four-week intensive brings expert architects, designers, and builders from around the nation to its campus to participate in a comprehensive Tiny House course. Yestermorrow and BOCA are actively working with Brattleboro nonprofits and housing partnerships to identify a client partner for the tiny home.
Throughout the course, students may attend optional weekend sessions on simplifying and exploring a variety of space-efficient housing options, composting toilets, and modern “vargo” or wagon design.
“Our working relationship with Yestermorrow cements our commitment to our mission and to our audience,” Fest co-founder Lisa Kuneman said. “We are very optimistic about the growing capacity of the fest to strengthen the region through bringing people together to focus on housing and shared spaces as an essential element of community resiliency.”
Potential attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors for the Fest can visit the Tiny House Fest Vermont website at www.tinyhousefestvermont.com for an overview of what to expect.