I am preparing for my first art festival. I have a 10' x 10' tent but I don't have walls. I need some suggestions for walls. What works the best. My art is on wood so it does have a little weight to each piece. Thanks for your help :)
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Once I upgraded and got the fabric panel covers, my booth design really started to shine. I love the panels that break down into two pieces - so easy to store and haul. AND - the added bonus is that if you bungee the panels onto your tent frame, you have a very stable tent in the weather.
You can see that there are some sets for sale in the classified section on this website.
Hi Vicki -- here is a post I wrote some years back that shows several add'l options that should be helpful. http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/how-do-you-like-this-...
Also, search around on the site for "booth design" or similar words because there are a lot of options. You'll be inspired. Do you have time to visit some shows before your first one? Then go and see what others are doing. There are lots of resources for you. Good luck and congrats for getting out on the street with us.
These are what I use http://www.graphicdisplaysystems.com/panels.htm
These are perfect for my art, I paint on 7' doors that weight 35lbs. Mine are 2 sections, top and bottom and each section can hold up to 125lbs. They only weight 11lbs per 6' section. Flourish sells the slip covers for them, which are perfect because I can just take them off and wash them. They seem much better than the pro panels. I use to have the pro panel knockdowns, but they were too flimsy for my heavy art.
I use the steel gridwall for my walls, and have for the 8 years I've been doing Art Shows. I swear by them for a couple reasons. First they are heavy, which is why some people don't like them. A 2 x 6 panel weighs almost 20 pounds. To me, this is a good thing. If you fasten them right, it adds that weight to the tent. I estimate that I have over 250 pounds of weight holding my tent down (15 panels).
The second reason is stiffness. Fasten them securely to each leg of the tent and they add strength and stiffness to the leg. I fasten them in 4 places, 2 on the upper part of the leg, 2 on the lower part. I make sure the back corners of my tent have gridwall in two directions. That takes out most of the sway in the tent. If you make a complete wall (5 panels) you have basically a steel wall for your tent.
One other suggestion is the Sta-Bars from Flourish.Com. They add a lot of stiffness to a pop-up style tent, and also make another place to fasten the walls.
This October is the 8th year for my Caravan from Costco. That's 30+ shows. The only issue I've had is with the sidewall zippers. I solved that by wrapping bungees completely around the tent at night. That keeps the sides from flapping in the wind and breaking the zippers. Lowes sells 48 inch bungees 2 for $3.99. It takes 6 to go completely around, pulled tight. During the day you can use the bungees on just 2 or 3 sides, if needed. A lot of my shows are on the water, so there are a lot of wind gusts. I've been through 40 MPH steady winds without an issue.