Show tent question

Currently I am working with low funds to assemble for doing art shows. From looking around here at AFI, Good heavy duty tents are still the worse expense for equipment. Not counting booth fees of course.

I have an old canopy/tent set up for outdoor events that you use conduit to assemble. It is 20 by 20 or any size under that I want to assemble. Thing is it was originally designed for use with tarps. At the time I bought it for other sales endeavors, Pop up canopies were limited to screen porch with wide spread out legs. and those used a similar assembly design, they had bungees inside the conduit type pipe was all. So it is pretty old. However all the joints that hold the frame together still work well.

I have dug around and can get white tarps in 10 x 10, 10 x 12 and 12 x 12 for the roof and walls. Painting the conduit frame white would not be that hard with spray acrylic paints. I found years ago that the assembly can be made rigid to high winds one simply needs to drill the conduit where the eye bolt that holds the joint together so the eye-bolt goes inside the joint. Done that way it can even be hit by a car or pick up backing into it (blush) and stay sturdy.

I can make my own pro-board type panels. My last set I made for my former endeavors, I gave to the astronomy club, when I moved back home to Oklahoma in 2004. So doing it again isn't that major an expense nor would it be a hardship for me. That should be done in fact here in a couple/three weeks at most.

Affording a tent as sturdy as this old beast however is not an option currently until I get some sales generated.

Since they would see it isn't a pop-up design in the booth shots, the question I have is would it be feasible to use in today's environments where Trim-line tents and easy up type pop-ups are the norm,?

Is it pop-ups or don't bother to apply?

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  • I used to do the same thing with fittings from Swappers Supply (now out of business) for 3/4 inch EMT (electrical conduit) and oversize white tarps from them also. Lots of 2 inch spring clamps held it all together. My racks were home made 1/2 inch EMT with 1x2 gridded turkey wire welded on. If I took the tarps off, the wind would blow through. That's what I used to do at Virginia Beach overnight. I carried the electric conduit in two large PVC tubes mounted on the roof of my van.

    If you do it right, it won't look much different than a Trimline or craft hut. Shouldn't be a problem for a booth picture and applying to shows.

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

    • Good to hear! Thanks Larry!

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