by art show, but I don't want it! I'm doing the Little Italy show in San Diego and they insist on providing all tents and these are the thick vinyl, commercial tents with heavy canvas walls that don't allow any light in. I have mesh walls and these are not one size fits all (no pro panels) so I don't think I'll be able to use them. Has anyone had to deal with this, and if so, how did you hang your work? Also, this is a two day show and I'm not sure if these are front closing tents so I'd have to remove my work Sat. night... grrrrr.  I'm so stressed. If I would've know this I wouldn't have even bothered.

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  • I have done this show for many years. I wish that I could bring my own tent as well. For what it's worth, the opening is higher than a conventual tent, but it's still way darker than my lightdome. This is an incredibly busy show. Can have 100,000 or more. They do a lot of advertizing. The organizers are really hands on and work incredibly hard. 

    I've never seen any artist with a generator. I have panels, so hanging artwork is no problem for me. I've seen many creative ways of hanging artworks from the structure. If you do this bring a tall ladder. The info for the tents should be on the site somewhere. I have seen artists set their tent w/o the top inside so they can use it for their mesh sides. It would also give you a side in front to be able to close up at night. I bring oversized tarps and clamps to close-up at night.

  • no electricity, but they allow generators so I'm also imagining everybody around me running loud generators. :( I could probably use zip ties or something to jerry-rig it, but it's not very stable. Not sure if this makes sense, but my walls don't use top stabars and just hook onto the accordion roof structure. I had to do that at the Abbot Kinney Festival and it was no bueno.

  • I done one show that used these types of tents. They are very thick & each night they would roll the walls down & then back up in the morning. They bragged about how nice these tents were & apparently they paid a small fortune to rent them. It was nice not having to tote a canopy & accessories to the show. At this show they had it sectioned off with pegboard walls that the artists were required to completely cover up so you couldn't see them. At least people could anchor to them their own setups.

    The part I didn't like is these tents did leak. When the sun was out you could look up & see tiny pin holes of sunlight coming through. When it poured the rain the water would come through these little tiny holes. If you have artwork that isn't harmed by water then it is no big deal but if you have stuff that can be ruined then all I can say is make sure you bring something to cover up your stuff & resists water. I had brought by accident the walls to my canopy & I used these each night to cover up my artwork & keep it from getting wet.

    I decided not to repeat the show in the future. Part of it is in the end using their big tents was a big inconvenience but mostly the show was in a beautiful park & had drainage problems. When it rained the first evening it left the tent we were in 2 inches underwater that seemed to remain the whole show because the water puddled in the trails of the foot traffic.

    If I were you I would call & ask if they allow just the frame of your canopy to be used inside to anchor your stuff to (these tents are huge). Or ask if they have something they put up to divide everybody that you could anchor to.

    Good Luck,
    Mel
  • Do they provide electricity? That would take care of the lighting issue. As for hanging your mesh walls, is it possible to set up the framework of your current canopy within their tents? Or bring a lot of strap hangers to hang your stabars within their tent so you can hang your mesh walls, at least the top stabars and just let the mesh walls hang down.

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100

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