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Is there a good source for used festival tents... standard 9 x 10? Thanks.

Dani wrote:Is there a good source for used festival tents... standard 9 x 10? Thanks.

Dani

I think that Sam's club sells the EZ up pretty cheap.

Dani wrote:Is there a good source for used festival tents... standard 9 x 10? Thanks.

Dani, you've got me confused. I've never seen or heard of a 9x10 canopy. Maybe never having seen them is

a CA thing. Mine is a standard 10x10 which fits in a standard 10x10 space that we have at most of the shows here, although some shows I've done require 10x8. I have a second canopy that I had custom built really cheap (like $250) that reconfigures as a 10x10 or a 10x8. It's a bear to assemble and I can't do it alone so I bought the 10x10 LightDome. I got that canopy at the Flea Market from someone who makes custom canopies from heavy duty pipe and connector pieces. I needed it at the time because i was still making/selling stained glass and needed something that could support the weight when I hung it from the sides. My Light Dome or an EZUp will definitely NOT support that much weight.

As for places to look for canopies, you might want to try publications for people on the local show circuit, the NAIA bulletin board (they have a spearate board for such items that anyone can post to) and even ebay. I was surprised to find last night that under "Everything Else" ebay has a category for Show Supplies. I didn't run across any canopies because I was searching for something else, but they may well have them sometimes.

If you know anyone who used to do shows, they may well have a canopy they're dying to get rid of.

I've heard you can sometimes get EZ-Ups fairly cheaply at CostCo sometimes, if you have those there.

Additionally, some of the canopy companies sell used or slightly damaged (i.e. dirt spots or something) canopies at certain times of the year, but I don't have any more info than that. Someone I met somewhere got hers that way.

Good luck!

Geri

Thanks, Geri, you've given me a wealth of info.... starting with calling them "canopies" to the correct size! The 9 x 10 was quoted to me by our local rental company, but for $150 a day, I thought I'd buy something, even if I only use it once! Doesn't that sound expensive for a rental? I don't really want to spend too much time searching if I can get something cheap. Seems like I've even seen the canopies without sides at places like Wal-mart. Dirty is okay because I'll probably paint it anyway... just because I paint everything. Walls, cars, you name it.... glass even.

Dani wrote:Thanks, Geri, you've given me a wealth of info.... starting with calling them "canopies" to the correct size! The 9 x 10 was quoted to me by our local rental company, but for $150 a day, I thought I'd buy something, even if I only use it once! Doesn't that sound expensive for a rental? I don't really want to spend too much time searching if I can get something cheap. Seems like I've even seen the canopies without sides at places like Wal-mart. Dirty is okay because I'll probably paint it anyway... just because I paint everything. Walls, cars, you name it.... glass even.

LOL.

$150 a day sounds awfully spendy to me, but I rent as little as possible at shows because I think it's all awfully spendy. I was able to buy a rug and have the edges finished for not much more than it would have cost me to rent one for a single show. I've used it at the same show for 3 years in a row and have saved about $200 in carpet rental fees. The down side is that I have to store it. LOL.

If you need sides quickly and cheaply and can live with plain old white tarps, you can get some with grommet holes at the hardware store. Use bungie cords to attach them to the frame using the grommet holes.

I'd suggest you get a canopy with a white top. I don't know about CO, but there are some shows here that only permit canopies with white tops. LOL. You never know what you may do, so it pays to be conservative.

Good luck -

Geri

Costco carries the "Caravan" brand. Not as sturdy as EZ up, not as heavy either. We bought one about three years ago, seems like it was around $250. Came with three sidewalls and a coupon for the fourth for another ten bucks.

Dani, I got an EZ-up about 3-4 yrs ago at Sam's Club for $200. Only had 3 side curtains but I made a 4th. The others gave you good choices for side curtains too. My tent has been a good one. I do stained glass too and I do hang stuff off the sides of my tent. I also secure my hanging grids to the tent. Best investment I have ever made. I will advise you to make some weights to hang on the corners incase of a wind gust. I use 3 inch PCV pipe about 24 inches tall filled with cement with a big eye hook in the top then secure it to the top of the frame with rope.

The EZ Up from Sam's Club is a little different from the Caravan at Costco. They used to be the same style, but now the EZ Up has a more open ceiling, without all those bars, which makes it look more spacious inside. The cost is the same for both. I do admit to being a total nervous wreck when the wind kicks up! Last weekend, the booth beside me lost it's top and another one blew over all together. Mine didn't really move, although I think it was sheer luck, since EZ Ups have a reputation for flying. I have PVC pipe filled with sand for each corner, but that won't be enough, if the wind hits it just right. At night, I lower the top as far as I can to get a lower profile. Sometimes, neighbors will attach to each other for added weight. The EZ Up also comes with sandbags (sans sand), but they'd be a tripping hazard.

Good Luck in your search!

Els

Thanks everyone, that's a ton of help. We have some large lead weights we can use since this particular festival doesn't allow poking into the turf. Geri, do you use carpet at your outdoor fairs? I'll have to check as this event takes place in a park and I don't know if they want their grass smashed. It sounds nice though.... I have this crazy idea to use tall sonotubes so that buyers can weave in and around and through the displays. All the pieces are small and screwed onto the tubes so they can't be lifted easily. Now I'm thinking with the weights in the bases of those, if I attach to the tent framework, a hurricane wouldn't budge the thing. Wind is an issue in Colorado in September.

Okay, don't laugh at me. I was channel surfing this past weekend. QVC was selling a top only canopy for under $100. Have no idea how good it was, but it was dirt cheap.

Barbara

You know, I've seen these also I think at Target or Walmart.... just little garden canopies to provide some shade. I'll have to look... I still hold out for a used one.... nazi environmentalist, you know.

Dani wrote:Thanks everyone, that's a ton of help. We have some large lead weights we can use since this particular festival doesn't allow poking into the turf. Geri, do you use carpet at your outdoor fairs? I'll have to check as this event takes place in a park and I don't know if they want their grass smashed. It sounds nice though.... I have this crazy idea to use tall sonotubes so that buyers can weave in and around and through the displays. All the pieces are small and screwed onto the tubes so they can't be lifted easily. Now I'm thinking with the weights in the bases of those, if I attach to the tent framework, a hurricane wouldn't budge the thing. Wind is an issue in Colorado in September.

Dani -

I don't use carpet at outdoor shows, but there are people who do when the show is on cement and they can tape down the edges. Carpeting on grass would be a tripping hazard for customers, I would guess.

Geri

These things do act like a sail in the wind. Some outdoor shows don't want us using tie downs. Insist on leg pegs instead. As if those things work.

Dani - Here's some wind advice...hope it helps.

Set up your booth so in the event of really strong winds it's possible for you to remove the top. I've done a couple of shows near the water where we were having gusts up to 60MPH and the only way to deal with it was to take the top off the booth right in the middle of the show day. I don't do shows like that anymore. It's too stressful. Work was crashing to the ground all around me and my neighbor, who hadn't weighted her canopy correctly, ended up having the frame get bent from the winds.

My LightDome came with instructions on how to build weights for it. Basically they're made out of really big pieces of PVC pipe (like 4 or 6" in diameter) with end caps glued on one end, filled with concrete and topped with an eye bolt to strap to the canopy frame. I made mine myself...what a mess! But they do help. I think they probably weigh about 50 pounds each. I don't attach my displays to the canopy, because if the wind really gets going, the work can be shaken right off the displays from the vibration of the frame.

Make sure all of your displays are weighted or clamped down. I have several earring displays that have to be C-clamped to the table, or they'll blow over in strong winds. If you have hanging work, use finishing line to keep it from blowing in the wind and possibly banging into a customer or the booth next door.

If I think of more tips, I'll post them.

Geri

Remove the top eh. Now that sounds like a good idea.


Last August at an outdoor show in Spokane, wind came up blowing 40 - 45 mph. The show was on a bluff over looking the valley. Nice place, but the wrong place to be when the wind comes up. Several nice glass pieces went crashing to the ground, fortuneately none were mine. Tents that weren't tied down became kites. No doubt it'll be the same this year but I'm going back anyway.

Outdoor shows are a learning experience. Be prepared for good old mother nature. Rain, wind, frost.......

Thanks.... yes, wind we know about! And lightning. We get a good dose of both around Labor Day and the typical afternoon thundershower. I'm interested in your comments about taking the top off the canopy, Geri. I've never seen anyone do that here. Of course, Weights R Us in Colorado. Ours are big blocks of cast scrap lead with the eye bolt fused into the lead, then wrapped in something to keep the lead enclosed. They work. They are heavy! I think they were originally part of a weighted pully system for something huge like a kiln lid.

Dani,

Try the sunshine artist supplies forum... I found a really nice used canopy there. I had a cheapo EZ up last year, and it worked fine- if you want to upgrade from there, they're easy to sell later.

When using weights, don't have them sitting on the ground. They need to be suspended at least an inch or so above the ground and bungeed to the tent posts. If they sit on the ground, they aren't doing their job.

We went through 80+ mph winds with weights on the corner and tie downs with dog screw downs and X'd stakes, the tent didn't move. One thing that happened is that it came unzipped and I would suggest that you unzip the corners in the event of a big wind. We have an Archtop.

Susan W

I'm shopping right now for a canopy. Looking at the EZ Up Eclipse II which is $555 before accessories at ezupdirect.com. Does anybody know of a better price or a better canopy for the money.

In a severe wind storm at Lake Powell last summer we got wiped out. An EZ Up with 2 5gal water jugs bungeed to each corner hardly even wiggled. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it.

Jack