Thread: Iowa Weather SUCKS!!

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Sorry I have to vent a little. I decided to move a portion of my home haunt into a tent this year. I usually just do a yard haunt and wanted to get that scare of the unknown going. So I went out and bought a 10x20 canopy/tent and put it up to get my measurements for building walls and such when 15 min into it being up a wind storm comes in and demolishes the tent.

A little disheartened, ok I was PISSED, I decided to go out and buy a heavier duty canopy/tent. This time more of a car port . I came home and put it up, held a garage sale in it and had it up quite awhile when tonight at around 11:30 a wonderful thunderstorm with strong winds decided to smash my second attempt at a "indoor" haunt.

So now that I have spent around $350 of my budget on tents that I have to throw away I am to say the least frustrated. I wont give up but think that I may have to build a more sturdy modular wooden structure.

I just wish I had invested the money in the wooden structure idea at the beginning instead of the tents but you live and learn I guess.

Ok rant over!!

How horrible. What kind of weather do you get at the end of October? If more of the same I would say better to learn about how the tents stand up to the weather now than have them come down on ToTers or yourself.

Are you sure you can't salvage the tents? If they are torn, that could make for an eerie look for a haunted abandoned carnival theme or gypsy camp even if you only use parts of them as a facade of sorts. I see that your avatar is a funeral wagon and am wondering if you were the one to make a wonderful wagon last year that i saw a showcase of. If so, the wagon could fit in with either theme maybe. BTW if the tent posts are twisted, maybe you can use wood framing to create the outline of a tent and staple the torn material to it.

In any event sorry to hear about it.

Thanks Spookie. The corner brackets are what suffererd the most. The first set were plastic and all of them broke and the second were thick metal but about half broke.
I set them up early just so I could make sure that they wouldn't fail on the big night and I am glad that it happened now but wish there was a simpler fix. I'm thinking about seeing if I could order replacement parts for the second one. It was a nice tent and stayed up through some decent winds for the past couple weeks. The tarps have survived on both tents so I guess there is some good news.

Our weather is windy here do to it being fairly flat and we can get 50+ mph winds this time of year. The first tent went down in about 80mph winds. The storm came up with no warning that day. I had literally just finished putting the tent up and got to chase it around the yard trying to prevent the damage it received. That is one reason I am not a big fan of styrofoam for my props. They just don't survive here. I wish they would it is such a versitle material.

That sucks a lot. I mean $350, WOW!

that is terrible! that is a lot of money! I hope you can at least figure a use or repair what is left.

Welcome to my world! Now, imagine this weather throught the entire October every few days, and snow also!

We can get snow here too Osenator! I hate it when the cemetery is covered in frost.

I went out and it seems that I can re-use most of the pieces but have to contact the manufacturer about a couple of the corners and 3-4 poles. The rest are somewhat useable but still damaged.

Now I wont feel bad about painting the frame black.

Sorry to hear about your damages. Iowa weather does suck. Where in Iowa re you, I am in Cedar Falls.

Hey Great Pumpkin, I am in Cedar Falls as well. I live along Rainbow Dr... such a small world! I remember driving by your house last Halloween and loving your Peanuts cutouts

did the tents have sides?