Of the many weekend festivals and events that take place in the Tampa Bay Area during the fall and winter months, certainly one that will long be remembered is the Tiny Home Show held on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Hillsborough Community College in Ruskin.
The show was the brainchild of Debbie Caneen, director of admissions at Sun Towers in Sun City Center. She is also well-known throughout the greater community for her volunteer work, including for the beneficiaries of the show’s tremendous success, to whom the proceeds were donated.
“As the president of the South Shore Coalition for Mental Health and Aging, our volunteers were so very grateful for the huge turnout of attendees who came to support our fundraiser to benefit both our organization and the Firehouse Cultural Center,” she said. “The crowd of approximately 6,000 people passing through tiny doors was astonishing.”
The show brought out both those living in tiny homes and those curious about them.
“We were blessed to have generous tiny home owners travel across country to attend and open their doors for quite a bit of foot traffic, answering questions all day from the curious crowd and loving every minute of it,” Caneen said.
With the larger-than-expected turnout, funds are available to allow the seminars from the show to be shared publicly.
“We raised a good deal more than expected, which will allow us to soon share the seminars that took place during the event on WPHX 101.9 Community Radio. Each seminar was recorded to educate our community about sustainability and living a big life in a tiny space.”
Caneen is also working toward developing a community for tiny homes in the South Shore area, focused on healthy and sustainable living. The development is named Circle Pond Tiny Home Community.
She mentioned that for those seeking even more information about tiny homes, the 2017 Florida Tiny Home Festival will be held on Nov. 17 through 19 in Elkton, Fla,, near St. Augustine. An estimated 60,000 people attended last year’s show. This year more than 100 tiny homes are expected to be on display. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/observer-tinyhome
For more information about the Circle Pond Tiny Home community, email info@CirclePondTinyHomeCommunity.com.