Writer / Leia Barker
Photography provided
A highlight of this year’s Jewish Community Center’s Ann Katz Books & Arts Festival is the Tiny House Roadshow from November 4-6. Sponsored by The National Bank of Indianapolis, the JCC welcomes the tiny house progressive movement for minimalist living.
“Programming for our major events, Earth Day and the Ann Katz Festival of Books & Arts, is inspired the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world—leaving the world a better place than we found it),” states Lisa Waite, JCC Director of Marketing. Although the majority of JCC members are not Jewish, the JCC is grounded in Jewish values. Their mission is to enrich the community by perpetuating Jewish tradition and heritage while celebrating diversity of beliefs through arts, education, health and wellness programs.
Dale Geist, founder of Tiny House Roadshow, took a tiny house to the Tristate Home Builders Show in Chattanooga a year and a half ago. HGTV heard about it and came to film the house, which was 8.5’ x 24’ with 2 bump outs on it. Geist was the first builder to add bump outs to a tiny house. Inspired by his success at this show, he started his own roadshow for tiny homes. His first Tiny House Roadshow was in April of this year in Cookeville, Tennessee. With little to no advertising budget, the Mayor of Cookeville placed the event on his Facebook page on a Saturday. The post had gone viral with 43,000 likes by Monday morning.
The show at the JCC will be the 6th of its kind. The event will feature 20 tiny homes from builders around the country, including a couple builders from the original site.
“Designing and creating for minimalist living is a unique thing from a construction perspective,” shares DeShong, who launched his side business, Burrow Tiny Homes, within the last couple months. “The feedback from doing a few shows late summer was overwhelmingly positive.”
The JCC will have a Preview Party and Fundraiser on November 3rd with Joshua Becker, a leading voice in the movement toward minimalist living and is the “Wall Street Journal” and “USA Today” best-selling author of “Simplify” and “The More of Less.”
Please visit the JCC Facebook page, website jccindy.org or buy tickets onsite at the JCC or visit tinyhouseroadshow.com
