Made in Idaho: Dragon Fly Tarps in Arco helps people enjoy the outdoors

I'm the Idaho News 6 neighborhood reporter dedicated to spotlighting stories and adventures from the Backroads of Idaho.

Dragon Fly Tarps creates rugged and durable custom tarps to protect people from the rain, wind and sun while recreating in the Idaho outdoors.

Matt Nelson was a student at Idaho State in 2003, but like most college students he didn't have much money so he went to the craft center on campus to sew a tarp in preparation for an upcoming river trip.

"They were saving our river trips," said Nelson. "It would rain three or four days out of the five-day trip and it is just more enjoyable for the whole group to have a dry place to be."

Matt started making tarps for his friends, word started to spread through the river community and outfitters started to get on board. Dragon Fly Tarps officially became a real business about a decade ago when Sandy Paz offered up her sewing skills.

"I have worked here since day one with Matt, I started in his basement with a home sewing machine," said Paz.

Those early days brought challenges because while people loved the tarps they wanted them to be bigger.

“Our tarps are 25 feet by 20 feet and most living rooms aren’t that big," said Nelson. "It was quite a challenge to get the first ones cut out and sewn on the home sewing machine."

In 2018, Dragon Fly Tarps moved into their new shop in Arco. Now they have specialized equipment they use to cut the material, sew the seams, put patches on the tarp, trim it, and add buckles or whatever the customer wants to make it fly.

"We don’t like to send anything out of this building if it is not tip-top, it has to be 100 percent," said Paz. "I think that is what has gotten us to where we are today, people will always say that the quality is amazing."

Dragon Fly Tarps has branched out into new areas spurred by the popularity of van life, overlanding and smaller travel trailers. They offer several options from stand-alone tarps, to awnings and even ultralight tarps for backpacking.

"We have some customizable options for our consumer base," said Nelson. "It's been really neat to be able to produce something that provides shade to people and rain and wind protection for people so they can enjoy their outdoor experience."

Matt and his wife Stephanie graduated from Idaho State and became teachers. Matt still teaches in the Butte County School District while Stephanie focuses on the business full-time. But how many people do you know would say this about their working environment?

"It’s fantastic, it’s one of the nicest places for anyone to work in this small town," said Paz. "Anybody that comes to work here really only leaves if they move. Most people want to work here, we have two bosses that are really amazing, and socially we all get along so well."