We continuously test all of our products in real world environments to insure our tough performance and safety factors are being met.  Rigorous testing, maintenance and needed upgrades are performed on all of our standard tents, new sailcloth tents, dance floors, stages, and chairs right on down to the place settings and silverware on the tables. This allows us to identify any problems or defects or wear in the materials, in advance, insuring a smoother completely worry free event. The newest product our sailcloth tents have been our most tested product to date. Not only do we require each tent to be visually appealing and sparkling clean, we require it to perform in all weather conditions. As you know, the New England weather can change on a moment’s notice from oppressive heat and humidity to a tropical storm, producing strong winds and driving rain. The new sailcloth tents we rent are certainly not a fair weather tent as our continuous testing proves. We thought it would be interesting to share some of our test results on a regular basis, with you, as the bad weather permits. So let us start with a test we were able to perform just this past weekend. Sept 4, 2010. We provided our sailcloth tents to four families to celebrate their children’s weddings. These sailcloth tents were set in Seacoast NH and the Greater Manchester NH areas.  The tents performed flawlessly to tropical storm Earl’s heavy wind and driving rainsqualls.  It is a tribute to the great design of the Exeter Events and Tents, our California Custom Manufacture Aztec Tent and our talented, experienced installation crews that we were able to pass this test with and others with excellence.

Kudos to our innovative design team and staff producing such a fine waterproof and weather resistant sailcloth tent.

I have attached the facts below along with an Associated Press Article on the storm. We must say only weathermen love to perform in a storm more than we do, wait for the next bad day to test some more! Of course, that would never be the day of your event… but if it was, you can rest assured that our sailcloth tents will keep you safe, dry and worry free so enjoy your special outdoor event with pride by calling us today!

History for Manchester, NH

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. — A weakening Hurricane Earl roared past North Carolina before daybreak Friday on its way up the East Coast, flooding parts of some barrier islands and knocking out electricity but staying farther offshore than feared. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

Tourists heading to the barrier islands for a Labor Day beach vacation received the welcome news Friday as Earl left a mild impact on the Outer Banks.

“There were no injuries; it was a quiet night,” said Dorothy Toolan, spokeswoman for Dare County Emergency Management.

Dare County on Friday lifted part of an evacuation order issued Thursday that affected all visitors to the barrier islands. Visitors are now welcome back to points north of Oregon Inlet, said Dorothy Toolan, spokeswoman for the county emergency management office.

A normal Labor Day brings 200,000 to 250,000 people to the Outer Banks, which have only 33,000 year-round residents, Toolan said. Areas to the south, including the seven villages of Hatteras Island, remained under a mandatory evacuation order because parts of N.C. Highway 12, the only road through Hatteras, remained covered with up to two feet of water and sand, said Sandy Sanderson, director of Dare County Emergency Management.

Parts of Hatteras may remain closed at least until after high tide, which is expected to come extra high at 4:30 p.m. Friday and put more water on the road, Sanderson said. Assessment teams will go into Hatteras once the water recedes, but already there are reports that the highway washed out during Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

The waves ate away at the dunes, but that sand can be replaced, Sanderson said. The National Hurricane Center had projected that Earl would push waves of 18 to 22 feet, and that would have caused major beach erosion in some areas, Sanderson said. The storm turned “at just the right time that the wind diminished enough to keep the wave height down,” he said. “We dodged the bullet.”

Earl’s center passed east of Cape Hatteras early Friday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph on track for the northeastern U.S. coast. At its closest approach, its center passed about 85 miles east of Cape Hatteras — up to 50 miles farther out than forecasters feared.

As of 2 p.m., the storm’s winds were down to 80 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane. It was located about 290 miles south-southwest of Nantucket Island. It was moving to the north-northeast at 21 mph.

All hurricane warnings in North Carolina have been discontinued. The only hurricane warning still in effect anywhere along the East Coast includes Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

The latest forecast from the hurricane center indicates that Earl is forecast to pass near Cape Cod as a hurricane with a large area of tropical storm force winds, which should affect a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts.

Ferry operations, which halted Thursday, will remain suspended until the U.S. Coast Guard make sure the channels are cleared Friday morning.

On Ocracoke Island, the highway is passable by four-wheel drive vehicles because of the sand and water on the road, Tunnell said. Peak winds reached 86 mph on Ocracoke Island, where flooding reached 2 to 3 feet. Across Hyde County, 90% of customers lost power but there were no injuries, fires or homes lost, Tunnell said.

At 6 a.m., 6,412 customers in Hyde and Dare counties had lost power, but that number was down to 3,955 two hours later as crews began restoring power, said Heidi Smith of the Tideland Electric Membership Corporation. That job will be done “before nightfall today,” Smith said.

Tropical storm force winds — 39 mph to 73 mph — are expected in coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, said Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center.

“Your trees are full of leaves, power lines are above ground, so you could lose power,” he said. “If someone has an emergency and roads are covered with trees, emergency vehicles have a hard time getting to them.”

New Englanders who don’t evacuate should “plan to be on your own for several days or a week,” Read said.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency, activated the National Guard and ordered up emergency supplies in case they’re needed, but no evacuation had been ordered.

EARL’S IMPACT: Beach vacations in peril

“People who are leaving Cape Cod and the islands are doing so of their own accord,” said Peter Judge of the state Emergency Management Agency.

On Nantucket Island, officials closed the port of Nantucket and the airport to protect the traveling public.

Nantucket innkeeper Gerry Connick of the Century House Bed and Breakfast took in his hanging geranium plants, stocked up on bottled water and batteries and answered calls from people with reservations.

PHOTO GALLERY: Hurricane Earl nears East Coast

SCIENCE FAIR: Robot research plane to fly into Hurricane Earl

YOUR STORIES: Ever experienced a Category 3-5 storm?

“We don’t have to worry about flooding or beach erosion,” he said. “We’re five minutes away from the beach and 67 feet high.”

“The weather now is sunny and calm,” he wrote in an e-mail about 10 a.m. Friday. The effects of Earl are not expected until about 5 p.m., he said.

In North Carolina, linemen continued to work on restoring power and repairing lines damaged by Earl, whose winds continued to whip across the Outer Banks.

Hughie Basnight, an auger truck operator for Dominion Power stood talking to co-workers on the causeway between Manteo and Hatteras Island electric poles that stood at sharp angles to the wind. Power still coursed through the lines, Basnight said, as workers intalled braces to support the poles and a splint to repair one that cracked.

“These were almost on the ground,” he said.

Nearby, the metal shelter over a Shell gas station lay on its side swaying in the wind, the gas station’s sign knocked to the ground.