2013 Camelot Party Rentals Media Placements
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2013 Media Placements - The Abbi Agency
Camelot Party RentalsTable Of Contents
Date Publication Title4/1/2013 INTENTS Magazine Strategies For Festival Tenting
4/1/2013
When you’re providing tents for one of the biggest
festivals in North America, you have to pay attention to
the details. Calgary Stampede—a 10-day event in July
comprising a rodeo, chuck wagon races and an
exhibition in Alberta’s largest town—requires tents for
everything from livestock to entertainment to food and
beverage. For the 2012 event, Calgary, Alberta, Canada-
based Warner Shelter Systems Ltd. supplied nearly
600,000 square feet of clearspan and marquee tents.
Although Warner Shelter has worked with the festival
since the 1980s, the tent manufacturer leaves no stone
unturned. “Making sure that the tent is structurally
adequate, anchored properly and has enough entrances
and exits is half the battle,” says Chad Struthers of
Warner Shelter. The project, like any festival, involves
knowing code requirements, planning site surveys and
coordinating transportation and installation logistics. To
pull off a successful event, Struthers says, “you need to
get your ducks in a row.”
No matter the size of the festival, tents are the
workhorses of outdoor events. “The advantages for
tenting are endless for festivals,” says Regina Barker,
who handles outdoor sales for Camelot Party Rentals in
Sparks, Nev. “They provide shade for the attendees and
they also protect equipment or merchandise.”
Tents also bring a uniform aesthetic to any event. “When people are driving, these large white
tents will grab the eye and draw attention to your event,” Barker adds.
Proper prep pays off
When it comes to tenting for festivals, smart preparation and organization play key roles. A
thorough site survey, for instance, can lead to fewer headaches during tent setup. “It is always a
4/1/2013
good idea to do site inspections, whether you are setting up a 20-by-20 in someone’s backyard or
installing a huge clearspan in the parking lot of exhibition grounds,” Struthers says. “Then you
know what some of the obstacles, if any, there are when it comes time to set up. Are there power
lines? Are there underground locates? What is traffic like to get the trucks in and out?”
Site surveys depend on the client’s and the event’s scope, says Steven Eisenstein, president of
Classic Tents & Events in Norcross, Ga. “We typically would have pre-event meetings and on-
site walkthroughs, which may include chalking/flagging tent locations and identifying
underground utilities,” Eisenstein says. “The timing is a function of the size and maturity of the
festival. For a new festival we would typically work several months in advance.”
Warner Shelter Systems advises that site surveys occur no less than three months before for a
small outdoor event and no less than six months before for a large festival. “Especially when you
are working with a committee and the planning has to pass through five, 10, 20 people, it takes
about six months on some projects of substantial size,” Struthers says. “And that is six working
months, not talking on day one and then not talking until day 90 when we are halfway through.”
Even if festival organizers or local municipalities provide their own site plans, tent companies
should still do their due diligence, according to Katie Frattini, sales and rentals manager of All
Shelter Sales and Rentals in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. “Typically these site plans are recycled
from year to year and will often omit significant site changes such as newly planted trees, new
tree growth and even new lamp posts,” she says. “It is important to be critical of any site survey
provided to you. Do your own site visit, have utilities marked both on the site survey and on the
ground. A final walk-through with lead festival organizers to have tent locations marked out will
save you valuable time when your tent crew and equipment arrive on site to begin setup.”
Just as crucial as performing the site survey is understanding codes. “We familiarize ourselves
with the particular municipalities that are responsible for the areas,” Eisenstein notes. “Meeting
with the departments that govern these areas is premium. We attempt to include the responsible
government entities in the pre-event meetings as often as possible.”
Because of its location in the Reno area, Camelot has to keep track of two states’ codes. “We
always comply and keep regular checks and updates with the Nevada and California codes,”
Barker says. “We also work hand in hand, whether it be with the city or the private venue owner,
when installing equipment.” For an additional measure of safety, Camelot requires that its crews
go through training prior to install.
Another important consideration in the event planning process is the arrangement of tents, which
helps determine the festival’s flow. Classic Tents & Events will recommend installing tents with
specific functions—for example, a shade tent for a place to stay out of the sun while waiting for
rides or activities for the children.
“Often we will suggest a main centrally located seating/dining tent for a food event, as attendees
will typically stay longer if they have a place to sit down and eat,” Eisenstein says. “We also
suggest having tents grouped so that there are main thoroughfares.”
Tent arrangements also must take safety into account. “We set up festival areas with enough
room for vehicle navigation and crowd mobility in case there ever were an emergency,” Barker
notes. “We always recommend setting up tents off the street and closer to sidewalks, unless it’s
an event that closes the street.”
4/1/2013
Software can be a tent rental company’s best friend when formulating layouts. “A lot of different
software programs will give you easement, walkways, spacing and booth placement,” says Fred
Tracy, owner of Fred’s Tents and Canopies Inc. in Stillwater, N.Y. “It makes a good presentation
for the customer if you are trying to sell the job, and it makes the job a lot easier to lay out too.”
Managing logistics
A strong grasp on logistics can mean the difference between a chaotic or a smooth tent setup.
Camelot employs a logistics supervisor who plans delivery routes well in advance. “We use our
own system to ensure deliveries and times with our customers and set up an accurate delivery
schedule,” Barker says. “It is put on a master spreadsheet each week. Our installation is all done
by trained Camelot employees so we know exactly how the delivery goes each day.”
Eisenstein believes that the most important aspect of transportation logistics is having a detailed
layout of the festival prior to loading the trucks. “We load the trucks based on what needs to
come out first—it is loaded last. When the layouts are incorrect or inadequate, the labor costs
increase and efficiency decreases.”
Struthers advises that customers avoid skimping on transportation costs. “You can load certain
things into a standard ground freight truck and get a cheaper rate than you might get if you load
it onto a flatbed trailer,” he explains. “But at the end of the day, your people have to spend more
time unloading a covered trailer.”
For tents on cross-country journeys, “rail is something important to look at depending on how
large the event is and if the time frame allows it,” Tracy says. “You could use intermodal, which
is a combo of tractor trailer trucks and railcars, depending on if you have large festivals that
move throughout the country. People worry about rail in terms of time frame, but if you have the
time, it is a pretty inexpensive way to move large amounts of product across the country.”
Furthermore, assembling a quality crew for tent installation translates into efficiency and
competence. In addition to in-house labor, Classic Tents & Events works with labor companies
that specialize in event staff/laborers. “In some instances we work out of the metro area/out of
state and work primarily with American Rental Association members in those areas,” Eisenstein
adds.
“Depending on the size of the event we may send multiple supervisors and then hire a temporary
local crew,” Frattini says. “By doing so, we reduce our transportation, meal and accommodation
expenses. We develop relationships with our labor providers, and over time they get to know the
quality of labor we require. Often other tent companies have crew available, which they will
subcontract to us for large events.”
In fact, collaborating with other tent rental companies can be good for business. “It is in your
best interest because at some point you will always need a favor or a friend,” Struthers says. “If
you can share business and have a good working relationship, that always comes back to you.”