Second annual Florida Tiny House Festival will be anything but tiny

Official poster for the event

By Mallory Hopkins | gargoyle@flagler.edu

People of all sizes will be attending the second annual Florida Tiny House Festival this weekend in Elkton, Florida. The festival begins on Friday, Nov. 17 at the St. Johns County Fairgrounds, and continues through Sunday. Last year the United Tiny House Association set records with their 60,000 plus attendee’s, according to their website.

John Kernohan is the Chairman of the United Tiny House Association, and will be present and accounted for alongside his wife, Fin. He says at the festival he’ll be the “fat guy standing next to the tiny beautiful woman.”

The association holds other Tiny House Festivals in other areas, such as Georgia and New Jersey. Kernohan said they will have a live build at these festivals that attendees can volunteer to help with in order to learn more about building tiny houses.

At this weekend’s event, they are bringing in what is called a ‘Skoolie,’ or an old school bus that is being converted so someone can live in it. The owner of the structure will bring it to the event, volunteers will help build and then the owner lives in the structure after the festival.

Attendees will also be able to go to workshops and listen to different speakers that will attend the event.

United Tiny House donates the proceeds from the event to local charities, Kernohan says that he wants to “leave something more for the community.” They also have a scholarship called the Tiny House Scholarship Fund.

Kernohan is looking forward to spreading the positive message that the tiny house community advocates for.

“I’m not some hippie, tie-dye, granola man,” Kernohan said. “I’m a retired business man that’s seen what I’ve done to the earth and want to give back.”