What's going in next to Paul B's
Our new warehouse was featured in the local Ephrata Review
How Special Events Were Held 150 Years Ago
Outdoor special events are not new. Almost 150 years ago, the first official words fair was held. The Centennial International Exposition of 1876 was held in Fairmount Park on 450 acres of land. 10 million people attended from all over the world. Among the products that were first publicly displayed at the Exposition were Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone, the typewriter and Heinz Ketchup. It was an amazing display of the latest and greatest machinery and innovations of the day.
Main Exhibition Building
Today, this type of event would be held in a tent city, but in 1876, large tents were not yet available. So, over 200 buildings and 3 miles of fence were erected for this event. Most of these buildings were temporary and were dismantled after the event. The most amazing of these structures was the Main Exhibition Building. It was the largest building in the world at the time. Its construction began at each end of the building and met it the middle. It was completed in 18 months. Today, only four of the original 200 buildings remain, including Memorial Hall which now houses the Please Touch Museum.
Karl's Event Services/Arena Americas installed the world's largest temporary structure
I am amazed by the tremendous amount of cost, labor and resources required for the buildings for this event. Today, a similar event could be housed in a much more cost effective, environmentally friendly fashion. In 2012, Karl's Event Services/Arena Americas erected the world's largest temporary structure. It included flooring, lighting and much more. With the advent of large tents and structures, large special events have become much more economical and flexible.
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Planning a New Warehouse
Having just completed the plans for our new warehouse, I can say that we’ve learned many things. It’s a daunting task that takes much more time and money than expected. We’ve been planning for at least eight years. Initially, we contemplated building onto our current warehouse, but some of the property restrictions made that a very expensive option. So, we began looking for another property. After we purchased a property, it took several years to get approval for the additional traffic flow that we would create. Then we encountered difficulties getting our tents classified properly so as not to require a ridiculously large, expensive sprinkler system. However, that is now behind us and construction is moving forward.
So, what are the key takeaways for a rental company planning to build a new warehouse? Plan ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead! This will allow you to have your new location ready before you outgrow your old location. Also, be sure to plan for any new types of inventory that you may add in the future. Another important item for us was the tent washing and drying area. Previously, we did most of our tent washing outdoors. We’re looking forward to being able to handle it indoors in all kinds of weather. We planned a space for our Teeco 5000 tent washer and a 50’ x 100’ area that is 40’ tall to hang our tents to dry. We also buried two large tanks to store rainwater runoff. This has two purposes: it saves on water costs and we are able to have “soft” water which is better for washing tents and trucks. The showroom is another important facet of designing a new warehouse. Be sure that customers can find it easily. This is your first impression for customers. Make it a good one.
One of two 50,000 gallon rainwater colletion tanks
On the practical side, the details are important. The cost of heating and cooling is high. So, be sure to insulate the building well. Plenty of electrical outlets are also worth the cost. It’s much more expensive to add them later. Deciding on lighting can be another difficult decision with a plethora of options. LED lighting uses very little power, but has a high initial cost. Other types of lighting are cheaper to purchase, but more expensive to operate. We also placed large windows strategically to allow natural daylight to light the warehouse. Another option is Wi-Fi. It can reduce costs on cellular data if smartphones use Wi-Fi. It also gives you flexibility to add more computers later. However, it’s best to run network cables to computers instead of using Wi-Fi whenever possible. Pallet racking and forklifts are another decision that requires a lot of planning. Will most of your equipment fit onto standard pallets or will you need some wider aisle for oversized items? The width of your aisles can have a big impact on your building size.
As the building begins to take shape, it’s a relief to have the planning behind us, and it’s exciting to look forward to a larger, more convenient warehouse. Feel free to contact me with any questions at https://tentsforrent.com or follow the status of our building here.
Daryl Sensenig
Tents For Rent LLC
110 Woodcorner Rd
Lititz, PA 17543
717.733.9700
3d Rendering of Our New Warehouse and Showroom
Our new warehouse and showroom are finally underway. Here is a rendering of the finished product.
Behind the Scenes Tour of the Tents
Thanks to The Special Event and Arena Americas for putting together an amazing behind the scenes tour of the tents for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Click here for more pictures and information.
Win a Free Kindle Fire HD
We appreciate your business, and we’d like to invite you to submit photos of your tent event. The person who submits the best photo will win a Kindle Fire HD tablet. Submit as many photos as you like. Each photo increases your chances of winning.
Please submit your photos by November 31, 2013. To submit your photos, email them to photos@tentsforrent.net .
For rules of the contest, see below.
2013 Photo Contest Rules
The 2013 Tent Photo Contest (the "Contest") is open to ALL photographers at least 18 years of age, except employees of Tents For Rent LLC and the immediate families of such employees. The contest is open to all participants regardless of residence or citizenship, so long as the laws of their jurisdiction allow participation.
WHAT TO ENTER:
We are looking for striking digital images of tents and the events held inside tents. You may enter as many photos as you like.
If you choose to include people in your submission, you are responsible for obtaining the necessary releases from the individuals depicted, and must be able to provide copies of those releases to Tents For Rent LLC upon request. Entrants must not submit images that involve human nudity or infringe on the rights of any other photographer or person.
HOW TO ENTER:
All images must be submitted as email attachments to photos@tentsforrent.net .
ELIGIBILITY AND JUDGING:
To ensure eligibility for the contest all entries must have a resolution of 3 megapixels or greater to be made available upon request. Images that do not meet this standard can still be judged, but may not be honored in the competition (at the judges sole discretion) if the photographer is unable or unavailable to provide the proper resolution when asked.
Previously published material for which non-exclusive rights were granted may be entered as long as you still maintain the right to grant us a license (see "Your Rights" below). You must be able to disclose when and where the photo appeared previously to Tents For Rent LLC upon request.
Submissions may be watermarked if desired, but the watermark should be inconspicuous enough to not interfere with the judging of the photo. A watermarked photo might not be honored by the competition (at the judges sole discretion) if the photographer is unable or unavailable to provide a pristine, watermark-free version of the image when asked.
Images will be judged on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit. The judges are a panel of Tents For Rent LLC staff members familiar with photography and responsible for selecting images. Tents For Rent LLC shall determine winner eligibility in its sole and absolute discretion. All decisions made by the judges are final.
DEADLINES:
Entries can be submitted until November 31, 2013.
Entrants may be asked to supplement their submission (such as the highest resolution version of their photo, or a watermark-free version of their photo).
The winner will be announced by December 15, 2013.
Tents For Rent LLC reserves the right to adjust any deadline(s) as the result of causes beyond its immediate control.
YOUR RIGHTS:
You will retain all rights to any photograph you submit -- including ownership if applicable. You grant Tents For Rent LLC rights (as described below) to your photograph for use in any marketing materials whether or not you win the contest. By submitting a photo, you grant Tents For Rent LLC a royalty-free, nonexclusive right, in perpetuity, to:
- Use the photograph on the Internet in support of our mission.
- Use the photograph in Tents For Rent LLC’s communications.
- Provide your photograph to other individuals and organizations for use in news stories, newsletters, reports, slide shows, displays, web pages, and the like.
- Use, in connection with the Photo Contest, your name, city, state and country of residence in promotions and other publications.
- Keep the files provided, and to archive the images on CD or in other electronic forms, so that your photos can be used to support our mission and be properly credited.
As conditions of this permission, Tents For Rent LLC shall credit photographs with the caption "© Person's Name" upon request.
New Warehouse
We're excited to announce that we've just begun moving dirt for a new warehouse and showroom facility a few miles from our current location. This new facility will allow us to serve you with a much expanded office and showroom. We will also have more space to increase our inventory and server you with a wide array of tents and other rental items.
Submit Photos, Win a Kindle Fire
Submit Photos, Win a Kindle Fire
Submit photos of your tent event for your chance to win a Kindle Fire HD tablet.
Please submit your photos by November 31, 2013. To submit your photos and for contest rules and information, send an email to photos@tentsforrent.net .
Submit as many photos as you like. Each photo increases your chances of winning.
Newly installed fabric hoop building
Green Fabric Hoop Building
We've just completed a semi-permanent steel and fabric structure.
It's a great tent weekend
It's a great weekend to have a tented event. The weather forecast looks great. We plan to have over 200,000 square feet of tenting and 200 tents up this weekend. Thank you to all our customers and employees.
Graduation Party
With school almost over, it's time to begin planning your graduation party if you haven't already. We can help by providing a tent to create a great outdoor space to celebrate your grad. We can also provide the lighting, tables, chairs, linens and more to make your party special.
New Rounded Tent
Shumaker PDT and Lancaster Country Day School have teamed up to create events under our new, rounded 60' x 40' tent.
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New Software
We're excited to announce that we've just upgraded to new rental software in order to serve you better. Point of Rental gives us better control of our inventory, more planning and scheduling tools, better support and many additional features. Thanks so much to Lynn for excellent training and the rest of the support team for providing us with excellent support as we made the transition.
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Think Outside the Rectangle
We now offer rounded ends for our 60' wide tents. This means that you can now have a 60' x 40', 60' x 70', 60' x 100', or even larger tent with rounded corners. Talk to us about how you can take your event outside the box.
We now offer rounded ends for our 60' wide tents. This means that you can now have a 60' x 40', 60' x 70', 60' x 100', or even larger tent with rounded corners. Talk to us about how you can take your event outside the box.
Wedding Photos
Thanks to Joe Craig Photography for these beautiful pictures of Lauren's wedding.
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Tent Washing
Our yearly tent washing is in full swing. We are working hard to be sure that our tents are looking great for the coming summer season. Our new tent washer can wash 5,000 square feet of fabric in each load. It's just like a giant front-load clothes washer. Here are some pictures of the process.
After the tents are washed, we hang them up to dry.
For more information, see our tent washing page.
Tent Washer
We've just received our new tent washer. It's the largest tent washer on the market and can wash 5,000 square feet of tent fabric at once. It is specially designed to gently clean tent fabric without damaging it. This will enable us to keep our tents looking their best all year.
Rooftop Tent Installation
Tents For Rent and it's partners created an event in a tent on the top of a parking garage for a donor dinner at the Hershey Medical Center.
Sailcloth Tents
Recently a new style of tent has been introduced. It has its roots in the nautical industry and it is increasingly popular for all types of events. Inspired by the sea, it is constructed of sail cloth material. With nautical flair, the sculpted peaks and eaves combine with a no-valance design, creating an open air event space like nothing you’ve seen before. The translucence of sail cloth enhances daytime events with natural light, and positively glows when lit for evening gatherings. The tents have rounded ends and have 10’ openings between the sidepoles. They come in a wide range of sizes:
20’x17’, 20’x27’, 20’x37’
32’x 30’, 32’x40’, 32’x50’, 32’x60’
44’x43’, 44’x63’, 44’x83’, 44’x103’, 44’x123’
We are considering adding these tents to our inventory and we’d like to get your feedback about these tents. Would you be interested in them? Do you like the look of them? The cost to rent them would likely be about 25% more than a similarly sized standard pole tent. Contact us to let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you.
High Heels, Soft Grass, No Problem
Are you worried about guests with heels at your outdoor event. Thanks to a creative little invention call the SoleMates High Heeler™ this problem is over. This small attachment helps keep heels from sinking into grass.