Candybee Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Yesterday, Saturday, was the 1st day of a 2-day weekend craft show I do every year. Well, last night a storm passed through with high winds and when I arrived this morning the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't seeing a lot of tent canopy's. Seems the winds blew away many tents sometime overnight or during the early morning hours. As soon as I got out of my car and surveyed the show grounds I could see many tents missing, all kinds of stuff was strewn everywhere, and people were packing up right and left. I was one of the fortunate ones as I lowered my tent to half mast last night and used heavy weights to hold it down and anchored everything on my tables as well as putting my sidewalls up and covering my tables with waterproof painters cloths. My stuff was in tact and nothing was blown away or missing but everyone around me who had not left already was packing up. There were still booths up as many decided to stick it out today but many took down their tents. So I was going to stay because this show is a huge money maker for me. But as soon as I raised my tent wind gusts tried to blow it over. Fortunately people nearby ran to my rescue and helped me lower it to half mast again. That was when I decided it wasn't worth and and packed it up and left. I have sun sensitive products so need a canopy over my stuff to keep the sunlight off my candles, soaps, etc. I count myself lucky that I didn't lose anything but I may still have damage to my tent. Won't know for sure until I unpack it and set it up to see if any poles are bent. I have seen tents blown away before and even had it happen to me a couple times in the past, but had never seen anything this bad in all my years of doing farmers markets and craft shows. This wasn't one or two tents, this was many tents as in dozens and dozens all up and down the street. What a mess! I feel so bad for those that lost tents or had product damaged. The guy right next to me was one of the people that lost their tent. Just about every vendor I talked to this morning told me they lost their tent! How tragic! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 (edited) Forgot to add I did make a nice bundle of cashola on Saturday so was pretty bummed Sunday was a wash!! I lost out of making a few hundred bucks today because of the weather. Sigh... Edited October 21, 2018 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Hopefully your tent is OK, @Candybee, and I'm glad you didn't lose any inventory - what a sad day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 So sorry to hear this. The wind really kicked up here in southern WV last night. Scared me for a while. We had some things blown around, but no damage, thankfully. Terrible to hear about the other vendors. I'm sure it's not something you think about happening, especially at this time of year. Hope your tent is OK. Good tents aren't cheap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shari Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 So sorry to hear when things like this happen. I had a similar thing happen over Labor Day. 2 Day show, we were in a large park right on Lake Huron and the winds were wicked to begin with but then a storm came through on Saturday night and about 20 tents bit the dust. I anchor mine with 200lbs (50 each leg) and mine survived but many didn't. It's sad to see so many folks loose stuff. Hopefully your tent is okay. Glad you survived it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 20 hours ago, bfroberts said: So sorry to hear this. The wind really kicked up here in southern WV last night. Scared me for a while. We had some things blown around, but no damage, thankfully. Terrible to hear about the other vendors. I'm sure it's not something you think about happening, especially at this time of year. Hope your tent is OK. Good tents aren't cheap. I am very close to WV being in the Shenandoah Valley so it was probably the same storm system that we went through. It wasn't the sustained winds that were the problem, but rather the sudden strong gusts of 40-50 MPH that did most of the damage. Like I mentioned I was willing to stay on Sunday even thou it was windy but then we kept getting sudden strong wind gusts that made me change my mind and pack up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Shari said: So sorry to hear when things like this happen. I had a similar thing happen over Labor Day. 2 Day show, we were in a large park right on Lake Huron and the winds were wicked to begin with but then a storm came through on Saturday night and about 20 tents bit the dust. I anchor mine with 200lbs (50 each leg) and mine survived but many didn't. It's sad to see so many folks loose stuff. Hopefully your tent is okay. Glad you survived it. I thought my weights were heavy, wow! 50 lb weights is really heavy. I have a newer Euromax tent I got about 2 yrs ago and noticed that in strong winds even with heavy weights I have the tent legs can still cave in and bend badly. I already have one leg that has a slight inward bend to it so now its prone to further wind damage so I have to really pay attention to protect it. But the weights will still hold it down and actually become part of the problem as they hold the "bending" legs down with their weight. Sigh.... I guess my point here is that a tent can still sustain damage even with weights that will keep it from blowing away. You probably know this already but if you don't just keep it in the back of your mind. If your tent caves in during a strong wind try to reset the leg back up straight as quickly as possible and hopefully it won't get bent. Well with my Euromax its prone to getting bent legs with wind damage. When I had my EasyUp tent the struts were prone to breaking from bending but no problem with the legs. So I guess a lot depends on the tent design and what features are weak points. Edited October 22, 2018 by Candybee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shari Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Candybee said: I thought my weights were heavy, wow! 50 lb weights is really heavy. I have a newer Euromax tent I got about 2 yrs ago and noticed that in strong winds even with heavy weights I have the tent legs can still cave in and bend badly. I already have one leg that has a slight inward bend to it so now its prone to further wind damage so I have to really pay attention to protect it. But the weights will still hold it down and actually become part of the problem as they hold the "bending" legs down with their weight. Sigh.... I guess my point here is that a tent can still sustain damage even with weights that will keep it from blowing away. You probably know this already but if you don't just keep it in the back of your mind. If your tent caves in during a strong wind try to reset the leg back up straight as quickly as possible and hopefully it won't get bent. Well with my Euromax its prone to getting bent legs with wind damage. When I had my EasyUp tent the struts were prone to breaking from bending but no problem with the legs. So I guess a lot depends on the tent design and what features are weak points. You just never know what might happen. All we can do is try to be prepared. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilosCandles Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I like to think that my tent is usually pretty secure over night. My worst fear is that a tent near me isn't secure and blows into mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Oh how so sad for you Candybee and all other vendors....so sorry you had to leave...it's just one of those things that could happen and so unfortunate with all the hard work of making product for your show and the going and setting up and everything else, it's a horrible thing that hapened. Well at least you have product for Christmas now and Thanksgiving that you don't have to work so hard for think of it that way.....you know? I just hope it didn't cost you a fortune in $$$ to be in the show..... Trappeur 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 8 hours ago, Trappeur said: Oh how so sad for you Candybee and all other vendors....so sorry you had to leave...it's just one of those things that could happen and so unfortunate with all the hard work of making product for your show and the going and setting up and everything else, it's a horrible thing that hapened. Well at least you have product for Christmas now and Thanksgiving that you don't have to work so hard for think of it that way.....you know? I just hope it didn't cost you a fortune in $$$ to be in the show..... Trappeur Oh I got my money's worth for that single day so I am good. I still have to resupply what I sold on Saturday for the next weekend so that means making more soap and candles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 oh good! Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenni Wix Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Oh my goodness. So sorry to hear about the losses. Glad you made it out alright. Thanks for sharing what you did to prepare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 You take any pictures Candybee? You know how we love pictures! lol Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Sorry to hear about your lost day. This right here that you described is one of the reasons I don't do outside shows. Just the sheer unpredictable weather of where I live deters me. It could be 70° one day, and literally snow 2 feet the next with no warning and the weathermen then saying "wow that came out of nowhere" because they have no clue how to predict the weather here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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