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As our organization grows and we have more and more volunteer teams building costumes around the nation, we knew we needed a group of individuals who can help serve as mentors. In 2022, we launched our Experienced Build Team. The team is made up of seasoned wheelchair costume builders who really help elevate the costume designs to a new level. They also develop plans for some of our past costumes to allow new teams ways to start a project.
Since connecting these creative individuals together, they have sparked imagination between each other, and collaboratively created new and exclusive parts that help build the costumes and even attach the costumes to the wheelchairs. As we complete testing of these new pieces, we will be sharing them on this website for people to use. Let's meet the Experienced Build Team Members: |
Pictured: Standing L to R: Catherine Farrimond, Jason Farrimond, Andy Powell, Bill Bernhagen, Lon Davis, Jake Sharp
Kneeling L to R: Dave Wootan, Angela Saus, Reese Davis, Chris Rude |
Lon Davis
Olathe, Kansas
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The original designer of the first wheelchair costumes for his son, Reese, Lon has been building costumes for wheelchairs since 2008 when he created a Wall-E costume to go around Reese's wheelchair. Since then, he pushes himself to create more elaborate costumes, utilizing the skills and tools he has picked up over the years. With over 100 unique and customized wheelchair costumes designed and built over the years, Lon quite possibly has built more of these than anyone else.
Favorite Costumes: Back to the Future, Baymax, Ghostbusters Ecto-1, and the Walking Ant-Man costume. |
Lon determines the best way to utilize plexiglass to create a hovering basketball for a Super-Fan!
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Reese Davis
Olathe, Kansas
Reese works on his latest Ant-Man costume with 3D printed helmets from every Ant-Man appearance in the MCU.
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As one of the founders of Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes at the age of 10, Reese originally started out as our main wheelchair costume model at trade shows. While he still does that, he now leads teams in the construction of our costumes, designs some on his own, and has now been involved in the creation of almost 100 different wheelchair costumes himself.
Favorite Costumes: Ant-Man (all three of them) |
Chris Rude
Kingsport, Tennessee
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Chris started building costumes for his son Coen in 2018. The builds started simply as cardboard wheel covers (M&Ms costume). They soon turned into more complex designs including a BB-8 and an AT-ST Walker, where the legs would walk as the wheels turned. Both the BB-8 and AT-ST Walker have been worn at Walt Disney World. The AT-ST Walker added a ‘feat of engineering’ to build. It was designed to break down and fit in a suitcase so it could travel on an airplane.
Thanks to the power of social media, Chris got involved with Walkin’ & Rollin’ Costumes after posting the BB-8 wheelchair build on Reddit. Chris helped build another BB-8 wheelchair costume that was able to fit in a suitcase to be taken on a Disney Star Wars Cruise. Chris lives in Kingsport Tennessee with his wife Katie and son Coen. He works in IT, and in his spare time enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, sim racing, and (of course) over-engineering wheelchair costumes. Favorite Costumes: BB-8, AT-ST Walker |
Chris fights with the folding wings mechanism for the fighter jet from "Top Gun: Maverick"
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Andy Powell
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Andy works with the team in our workshop to determine the engineering of how to make the wings of a jet, fold upward to fit through a door.
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Andy has been creating some amazing costumes for his son, Alex, including Dr. Octopus, Pugsley Addams, and Optimus Prime. He found Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes through social media and started following them for inspiration and build tips. Andy got his start with the organization after attending the Fall 2022 Build Workshop, and looks forward to assisting other teams in creating costumes.
Favorite Costumes: Jurassic Park Jeep, AT-ST, Batmobile |
Bill Bernhagen
Portland, Texas
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Bill became interested in Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes in 2018 when his wife, Fancy, spotted the group on Facebook and thought he should get involved. His first project was an Ice Cream Truck wheelchair costume that he built and shipped to Florida for Caden. Bill had so much fun building this project that he decided to take on a Darth Vader Tie Fighter costume and delivered it to Jonathan, north of Dallas in 2019.
Favorite Costumes: Darth Vader Tie Fighter, Ice Cream Truck |
Bill poses with his completed Darth Vader Tie Fighter!
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Jake Sharp
Overland Park, Kansas
Jake determines the appropriate size for the Elton John glasses of the costume he was building.
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Jake started with Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes from the beginning by being friends with the Davis'. Volunteering at any events, building at workshops, or helping at costume reveals they may have. Now he leads teams by teaching and passing on the knowledge he has learned from the numerous costumes he has been a part of.
Favorite Costumes: Toy Story Woody and RC, Toy Story Woody and Bullseye |
Angela Rogers Saus
Kansas City, Missouri
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Angela started with Walkin’ & Rollin' Costumes as a cosplayer, supporting the annual Halloween reveal parties back in 2016. As a speech-language pathologist and educator, the recipients and their families held a special place in her heart. Intrigued by the build process, she attended the Build Workshops where she worked with teams to create a pair of Star Wars vehicles for sisters headed to Disney, worked on the Mandalorian Razor Crest, and most recently spent over 100 combined hours on the TopGun Fighter Jet. Each costume presents a new opportunity for learning and creativity. The considerations for each unique build that make the costume accessible, maneuverable, and most of all FUN are all challenging parts of the process that Angela enjoys.
Favorite Costumes: The Ghost, Arrowhead Stadium, Skeleton Motorcycle Cruiser, ANTony (the original one with the moving legs!) and the Top Gun F-18 Fighter Jet |
Angela hopes that the two costumes will fit the maximum requirements for a wheelchair costume within Walt Disney World. It was a very small box to make sure these costumes would be allowed in the parks.
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Dave Wootan
Kansas City, Missouri
Dave performs a final systems check on everything for Lily's Top Gun fighter jet wheelchair costume.
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David first joined Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes in 2022. A friend (and fellow Experienced Build Team member) had invited him to attend a weekend workshop. There he assisted with the building of the Top Gun F-18 costume. While he worked on various aspects of the costume, he is proud of the wiring harness that he designed, which allowed for the integration of a two-handed Nerf dart launcher to be operated by a single push button.
David has over 20 years of experience with building props and costumes. He got his start by drawing and after having his artwork sold in auctions, he started to bring those drawings to life. He is experienced with design, sewing, sculpting, molding, woodworking, and working with materials such as PVC, ABS, and Fiberglass. Favorite Costume: Top Gun F-18 Fighter Jet |
Jason Farrimond
Kearney, Missouri
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Jason has been building costume bits for cosplay since around 2019. Mostly EVA foam including a 7' scythe for his daughter's RWBY costume. He met Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes through a Facebook post and volunteered for the 2019 fall build. He can't wait to see what the next generation of costumes will look like and to get his company and coworkers involved. Pipe is what they do!
Favorite Costumes: Batman Batpod, Spaceballs Winnebago, RWBY - Ruby and Penny for his daughter |
Jason makes sure the Batpod is Batman worthy
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Catherine Farrimond
Kearney, Missouri
Catherine creates the detail for the front guns on the Batman Batpod wheelchair costume.
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Catherine has been doing cosplay since about 2018, learning how to sew and utilize other skills to make her favorite characters come to life. She joined her dad during the Walkin' & Rollin' 2019 fall build. She's enjoyed building the costumes ever since and looks forward to working with everyone each year, while also being able to learn new skills and techniques used in the cosplay world.
Favorite Costume: Batman Batpod & Pokeball |
