Hiring:  Truck Driver & Tent Set up Crew
 

Tent Setup Story by Kent

Tent setup is an example of team effort at its best. These tents are not like ordinary camping tents that can often be setup by one person in a few minutes. The very smallest tent offered by Ty’s requires two people and the largest won’t go up with less than four workers, and even with all those hands it still requires four or five hours! The whole event is a coordinated effort, each worker pitching in with a variety of tasks until the job is done.

First, we mark the location of the tent. Two workers lay out the tape measures, exactly locating spots for each of the center poles and perimeter side posts and stakes. While that is being done, other workers begin unloading the truck, bringing out steel stakes, wooden side posts and nylon anchor straps and placing them all around the perimeter of the layout. Next the huge tarps are spread (to protect the tent and keep it clean) and then the tent panels themselves are carried out from the truck and opened out upon the tarps. While one team works on fastening together all the 20x40-foot tent panels (five panels in the 100-foot tent) another team is busy pounding in the steel stakes.

Now we’re ready for the tent to start raising. First the team goes around the whole perimeter, hoisting the edge of the tent onto the side posts – every ten feet. When the side posts are all up and snugly positioned, then the climax event of the day happens – the raising of the center poles! All hands are needed to push up the 22-foot aluminum center poles to loft the brilliant white tent into the air. It’s a joy (and a relief) to finally see it up after all that work! 

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Now for the finishing touches. Precise adjustments to the support straps are made, making sure the entire tent fabric is uniformly taut and even, ready to shed wind and rain. While that detail is being taken care of, others in the team will be installing the Edison lighting strands and then staging the chairs and tables under the tent and still others will be tidying up all the loose straps and ropes.

When all is done, and all the various empty totes and protective wraps are cleaned up and stored back in the truck, we take a minute or two to admire our work. That snowy white tent always looks great poking up into the blue sky and we think of the fun that the bride, groom, wedding party and guests will have in just a couple of days!

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