Road Trip!

Winter time in the tent business can be a very slow time of the year. Sure there are some smaller projects here and there, but more often than not, our guys are in the warehouse day after day doing maintenance and repairs. It gets a little monotonous.

If you are looking for some real action in the winter you have to go South, I don't mean Chillicothe South, I mean Dallas South. Last week, 6 of our guys loaded up the semi trailer and headed down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to install an impressive 98'x328' structure as an exhibition hall. Personally, I think the guys set a record: 1 day to install the frame, 1 day to install all of the fabric. There is a reason we have some of the best installers in the business. Our customer had some tight time lines but we were able to get the job done in an effective amount of time. My hat is off to our our installers. Great work guys!

For more info about this, or any other structure, please visit us on the web at www.oneiltents.com.

Frame loaded and ready to go.

Safety first! Laying out the frame and staking the base plates.

All of the arches are up. Ready to connect the wind bracing cables.

Ours in the 3rd structure in. We enjoyed working along side some real pro's for this event.

Commencing of Commencement

It's graduation season, not only for high school seniors but also for those at colleges and Universities across the country. It's a great time to celebrate achievements and to look forward to whats ahead. Some will move on to college and further their education, others will be moving into the "real world" and begin their careers and count down to retirement.

We are lucky to be a part of so many celebrations, not only in the central Ohio area, but also in various locations around the state. In partnership with Advanced Tent in Cleveland, we erected a MASSIVE 100'x300' clear span structure for the Lakeland Community College commencement ceremony. Believe it or not, an 82' x 245' structure was not large enough to house the ceremony. As far as classy ceremonies go, this one takes the cake.

It took us only 2 days to erect and finish this huge clear span structure. The first day was comprised of laying out base plates and frame as well as driving stakes to secure the temporary structure able to withstand 70 mph winds. The second day was for erecting the frame with the help of some heavy lifting equipment and pull through the vinyl tops. Who would think that in only 2 days you could have 30,000 sq. ft. of unobstructed space set up and ready to use? It's pretty amazing when you think about it.

Take a look at the photos below to see our results. All photos are courtesy of Lakeland Community College.

The Right Stuff

There is a lot that sets O'Neil Tents & Party Supplies apart as a tent rental company from our competition. We've previously discussed how our manufacturing capabilities give O'Neil a competitive advantage. This week, we started construction on an amazing project that, after a little reflection, we wouldn't have been able to do without our decades of experience.

We have come a long way from the early days of frame and pole tents at festivals to where we are now. Our most recent major project is the construction of a 30 meter clearspan and two 40' x 60' frame tents on the field of Ohio Stadium for the Make a Wish Foundation's Big Wish Gala. To say that this project is awesome is an understatement.

Back in the early 80's O'Neil Tents made the decision to get into the world of clearspan structure. At the time, this was a pretty risky venture. The only tents that our customers were renting were pole or frame tents. Looking at European trends, and preparing for the day that all tents would need to be inspected and permitted by the government made our a decision easier. Clearspan structures would be the wave of the future.

Luckily, this bet has paid off. More and more, State and Local governments are requiring safety inspections on tents over a certain size. Because clearspan structures are engineered to withstand wind and snow loads, they meet and exceed safety requirements. While other companies are scrambling to shift their inventory over to structures, O'Neil has been there and been doing that for over 20 years. 

Back to the work we're doing for the Make a Wish event. The structure for the Make a Wish event is 30 meters wide and 60 meters long. We custom manufactured clear panels and gable ends for the structure as well as installing solid white wall on the sides. The side wall was custom cut to marry up to the 7 large HVAC units used to heat and cool the structure.

The synthetic surface of the field was our main challenge for this job. Because we were not able to stake into the ground, we had large plates fabricated to hold 10,000 pound concrete blocks at each upright in order to meet engineering codes. Aside from the staking issue, there was constant rain for 3 days straight. Weather forced us to slow down the install to ensure that our crews were able to safely erect the heavy parts that go into a 30 meter structure. Again, experience tells us when to slow down and when to proceed full speed ahead.

The results of this project were amazing due to our experience, quality manufacturing, well maintained inventory, and partnership with a dozen other vendors. O'Neil is happy to have been a part of such an awe-inspiring job and we look forward to more like it in the future.

To view a complete photo gallery of the event set up, visit our facebook page by clicking here.