InTents April/May 2020 - 26

VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE
The more high-profile the acts at the
festival, the more VIP space is needed-
so VIP tenting is another element that
depends on the release of the lineup. "If
the acts aren't quite as much of a draw,
there's less square footage hitting my
order sheet," Gerace says. "Blake Shelton,
for example-his VIP sections are huge."
VIP tents are typically elevated, with
close proximity to the main stage. "At
Firefly there's a permanent structure
that we put tenting on," Gerace says. "It's
a multilevel elevated deck that we cover
with tenting and carve out with different
hospitality spaces called cabanas. Each
cabana has its own bar and is elevated
above the heads of the crowd for the
best sight lines to the stage."

TRENDS TO TRACK
The Glamping Dome Series by Glitzcamp
features five customizable designs,
including the free-standing Starry Dome
Igloo, designed without a column to provide
unobstructed and expansive interior space.
Photo courtesy of Gliztcamp USA, a division
of Shelter Structures America.

MORE LUXURY, MORE REVENUE

he days of cheap camping tents and Woodstock-style, mud-covered festivalgoers are gone. As festival promoters aim to increase revenue by offering
luxury experiences, glamping at music festivals is a popular offering for guests
with high budgets-and sometimes those celebrating on a shoestring.
"Basically the festivals are creating a 'glamping village,' with tents that vary from
a luxurious glamping tent to dome tents to sleeping pods to little homes in which
people sleep for the entire concert weekend," says Keith Krzeminski, executive
vice president, Shelter Structures America, Palo Verdes Estates, Calif. "Growth
at concerts is in the creation of a VIP experience for the concert attendees. The
luxurious sleeping tents, full-size beds, HVAC and power allow the attendee to
experience the concert in a new and refreshing way."
Shelter Structures' glamping division, Glitzcamp USA, provides glamping and
dome tents, as well as traditional clearspan structures. "The music festivals today
are looking to grow their revenue by offering higher-end products and experiences
to keep attendees coming back year after year," Krzeminski says. "For example,
last year we sent out a 20-meter and a 15-meter dome to Burning Man to create
spaces for the 'Burners.' Domes, glamping tents and clearspan tents are used
today to create venues and villages to promote the concert experience."
The end game of all this festival glamping? "It creates a better experience for
the concert attendee and more revenue for the client," Krzeminski says.
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april-may 2020

While tenting opportunities for
festivals are strong, festivals themselves
may have peaked. "I'm seeing more
contraction," Gerace says. "I think the
market got saturated with festivals.
Some are no longer functioning and
others are taking a hiatus." (See "Don't
get burned," page 27.)
Still, opportunities are there for tent
rental companies that understand
the industry. Under the "super-hot
commodity" category for music
festivals-and more-are printed gable
ends for branding. "For the cost and
advertising dollar, printed gable ends
are a huge advantage," Gerace says.
"From 3 meters to 50 meters, they are a
great introduction to the festival."
The best part of providing tenting for
music festivals, though, may just be the
opportunity for creativity. "When you
first step on the site, it's a blank slate,"
Gerace says. "You're basically building
a temporary city for upwards of 50,000
people for some of the bigger festivals.
And then in a matter of weeks, it's all
gone. Not a trace is left. The coolest part
of what I do is the creativity of building
a site out and then getting rid of it in the
turnaround time."

3/23/20 1:24 PM

InTents April/May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of InTents April/May 2020