Safety and Peace of Mind

As city state and local governments begin stepping up their enforcement of safety in event equipment like tents, staging, production rigging, festival rides, etc... It reminds of me the big leaps in safety our industry has taken in recent years to protect the attendees of our events. Long before certain standards were set in place, manufacturers created tents that were engineered for various wind loads, snow loads, and hanging loads. Our structures (which we started renting in 1982) were engineered to stand up to 90 mph winds in certain exposures and can hold a static weight of 1,000 pounds per arch safely. Before engineered tents came along, customers didn't necessarily have the peace of mind that they now find. They can now rest assured that only an "act of God" will effect their event.

Unfortunately, that is what we saw at the Indiana State Fair this past weekend when a freak wind gust blew through the fair grounds, killing 5, injuring almost 50 more, and mangling production rigging. This tragedy serves as a reminder that when the general public, or any one for that matter, attends an event, the highest level of precaution must be taken to ensure their safety. To be clear, I have no idea if the set up the equipment was safe or not, or if it was installed properly or not. Sometimes these things are beyord our control, but they need to be considered when planning an event.

Initially, our customers balked at the increase in price to add higher levels of safety to their events. Slowly over time though, they have seen the benefit of covering their assets and guests with structures that will do a much better job of protection from the elements. We recently wrote about a large pole tent going down at an event. I was personally on site to monitor the tents in case of emergency. I was able to see the instability take shape and we shut the tent down so there wasn't a chance anyone could enter a potentially unsafe position (also with the help of the National Guard, vendors were prohibited from entering the tent).

It is now my position as an event professional to make sure this situation doesn't happen again. It is my job to plan a safer alternative for my customer. After all, I'm the one with the expertise as to what can make the situation safer for him, his guests, and his vendors. Once I make the proposal though, its up to the festival and organizers if they will act upon my suggestions. Hopefully they see the merit in using safer structures in a position that is potentially dangerous based on the weather.

To sum up, some companies are complaining that the cost of safer materials are too expensive and prohibitive. Some customers are worried that they will not be able to afford the additional costs. All city, state and local governments do not care about those concerns. Their only concern is the safety of the event attendees -- and rightfully so.

* A note to the tent companies on the fence about purchasing structures or engineered tents: While the newer tents do cost more, they are extremely durable (we still use some of our original frame work that is almost 30 years old), the tents are easy to install (our crews can set up a 20,000 square foot structure in less than 8 hours), and your insurance company will love you for cutting your liability.

Ichthus Festival Follow Up

Lessons Learned:

1. Pole Tents don't do well in 40 mph winds.

2. Stakes don't have the same holding power in Rock as they do in normal soil conditions.

3. The guys at Goff Southeast Tents are real pros.

Over all, the event went very well. There were some minor complications during the week due to weather (i.e. guy ropes loosening, stakes pulling, etc...) but the event was still able to go on. There were a couple of instances that we erred on the side of safety that we closed a couple of the tents until they could be re-secured.

Then the morning of tear down arrived. The grounds of the Ichthus festival (as described in our previous post) were a little challenging. Between the situation of staking into rock and the largest tents being on the top of a hill, we faced an overall losing battle. The weather on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service, boasted 30 mph winds for about 6 hours with gusts up to 40mph as well as steady rain. This combination of factors caused the pole tents we had on the top of the hill to be knocked down. Fortunately the tops weren't severely damaged and they will be repaired. One of our center poles wasn't as fortunate and was folded in half. This pole must be scrapped. If you've never seen a piece of steel 6" in diameter bent like play dough, please see below (now you might appreciate the precaution in shutting down the tents while they were re-secured).

We got a call from the folks at the festival, as well as our tear down crew, to let us know about the issue. Fortunately, like vendors at every other festival we work with, all of the vendors were packed up and out of town the night the festival was over. Also, no one was allowed on the grounds as the festival had closed. No one was injured other than our poor tops and center pole.

Finally, my comment about the guys at Goff Southeast Tents. When we had issues with stakes pulling from the rock bed and ultimately a tent coming halfway down in a storm, I called them to see if I could use their hammer drill and jackhammer to resecure the stakes and help put the tent back in the air. Without hesitation, they sent a crew of guys to help me out. Ian Goff, their manager, made sure I had all of the resources I needed to make sure the job was done and done right. Thanks to them, the Ichthus Festival could go on as planned. I hope one day to be able to return them the favor they gave me. Its nice to know that in the competetive industry that we are in, there are guys out there who will lend a hand, no questions asked. Those guys are real pros and we are certainly in their debt.

Moving forward, we have a few more crazy weeks of installs ahead before we get to catch a break after July 4th. After that break we head into the Ohio State Fair and the Dublin Irish Festival installs. With what we've learned at the Ichthus Festival, we'll plan to be as safe as possible for the foreseeable future.

Ichthus Festival - Wilmore, KY

I'm told that this event is called the Woodstock of Christian Music. I know it as the event with the hardest surface to drive stakes that we've ever set up. The folks at the Ichthus Music Festival in Wilmore, KY (just southwest of Lexington) do a tremendous job putting together all of the elements that make a great festival.

Starting with the setting, farm land tucked away in horse country, the 360 degree views from the event space are only of nature and are quite awe-inspiring. The festival space has nothing but plenty of room to enjoy about 100 different bands on 4 stages. Across the acreage of the farm we set up several large, traditional pole style tents from 60 to 100 feet wide. These tents should give ample coverage from the sun for the tens of thousands that are anticipated to arrive later this week.

I was personally impressed that, even though this farm is seemingly in the middle of no where, the facilities on site are just as impeccable as the land they sit on. They have huge restroom and shower facilities for the concert goers, running water in dozens of locations around the grounds, and very well laid out electrical service at all parts of the farm.

In terms of the installation, we arrived last Tuesday afternoon and began to work immediately. Before the end of the day, we had both 100'x200' tents in the air. We then started working on the rest of the tents on Wednesday, first laying them out, then circling back around to actually put them up. Rather than devote all of our guys to one tent at a time, we worked in an assembly line fashion where a handful of guys were responsible for lacing and laying out stakes. The next group of guys would come in and put in side poles and center poles. The final group of guys would come through and tighten everything down. The teams would move on in shifts from tent to tent until the entire install of the large tents was done. I found this method to be extremely efficient.

One note on tent installation in Kentucky: ALWAYS BRING A HAMMER DRILL TO PRE DRILL ALL STAKE HOLES. A regular jackhammer will not drive re-bar or steel stakes through the Kentucky rock. This is a lesson we learned very quickly and I am happy to pass it on to any other tent company installing tents in that area.

All in all, we finished our installation in 3 and a half days. That was what we scheduled for the job so I'm pleased in that regard. I think we could've moved a bit quicker if we were better prepared for the staking surface. Our part of the event is now complete and the folks at Ichthus are setting up the rest of their staging, lighting, sound equipment, etc... I wish them nothing but luck with set up and the event.

Its been a while since we've posted anything as we're in the middle of our busiest time of the year. To show the craziness we go through to complete graduation parties, please check out this article from the Columbus Dispatch this past weekend. On top of the 160 graduation parties we set up last weekend, we also provided tenting for events around the Memorial Tournament, a fundraising event for St. Jude's at the Columbus Zoo, the Columbus Arts festival, and the OHSAA State Championship Track meet at OSU. Our guys have been working serious overtime for the last 3 weeks. This week upcoming looks to be just as busy as the last couple but we should be returning back to normal and our crews will be happy to finally get some rest! Photos of those events listed above to come.

Decorator's Show House

O'Neil Tents had the pleasure to set up tenting for the Decorators Show House, an event benefitting the Columbus Museum of Art. This job features a 30x45, a 20x20, an 8x8, and a 15x15 frame tent lashed together on an odd shaped drive way to create the maxium amount of usable event space. This special event also features a pretty special 33x33 clear span structure. The structure was built on biljax stage to level out the sloping yard between landscaping beds and carpeted to help aid in the finished feel of the structure. Please see our facebook page for the images of the event.

March, St. Patty's Day and More.

Well, as today is the first of April, a couple of things have happened recently. First, We're starting to get past some of the cold weather that we've come to know and love in Columbus. Second, our installation crews are starting to see more time on the road working on projects (which, believe me, they prefer to inventory maintenance). Third, we've had another St. Patrick's Day weekend. Everyone knows that the biggest St. Patrick's Day party in the state is at Flannagan's in Dublin. We've worked with them to cover their sand volleyball courts with 25mx50m clear span structure. Using structure, we're able to almost make the volley ball court area an extension of the building itself because of the proximity to the building that we can achieve. This is an awesome event that the local morning zoo broadcasts from and thousands of people attend throughout the day. This year we added another new comer to the St. Patrick's day mix. The Tilted Kilt in Polaris is a pretty interesting bar/restaurant to say the least. Its basically the child of an Irish Pub and Hooters. The concept apparently works due to the success of their inaugural St. Patrick's Day Party. The Tilted Kilt took over the parking lot in front of its restaurant and we set up a 15mx30m clear span structure complete with event deck flooring, staging, lighting, tables and chairs. In addition to these services, we took care of heating the event space, generator and crowd control fencing. This job was not without challenges, but it shows how awesome planning and execution can make an event feel seemless. After the initial site visit and quote acceptance, O'Neil achieved the temporary building permits, hired contractors, and delivered positive results for our new customer. We took care of the details so all they had to worry about was traffic into the event. Some of the pictures below are credited to the Tilted Kilt Columbus' Facebook account. Check out their page for more images of events at the pub.

Deadly Game of Follow the Leader

Today, a friend of mine brought an interesting video/concept to my attention. Ants are blind and when they travel to collect food, they follow a leader based on scent. This gets a little dicey as the leader isn't a designated ant, its just the one who happens to be walking in the front of the pack. So, a major problem can arise when an ant from the middle of the pack veers off course and suddenly moves to front of the group. The effect is that the pack doubles back on itself and the result is thousands of ants marching in a spiral until they die of starvation. The article is from NPR and can be found here. There is a pretty neat video on there too.

In terms of a small business, this idea of playing a deadly game of follow the leader is a little scary. Not having a clear reference point to your goals and not having the right person leading the way can be catastrophic. If your vision for your company isn't clear and you are easily taken off track, much like the ants, productivity will cease until your company eventually starves to death.