The Street Vendor’s Guide to Choosing the Best Canopy

Whether you set up shop in a different market every weekend or have a standing position in a permanent location, canopies for street vendors are necessary to successfully conduct business. 

There are many values in canopies for street vendors. Not only does it offer guests protection from the blistering sun and rain, but also protects your products. 

Having a sectioned-off area also helps your business stand out. Utilizing memorable canopies for street fairs especially helps your business to shine among the competition.

To help you make the best canopy purchase, read on to learn what to look out for when canopy shopping. 

How to Choose Canopies for Long-Lasting Durability

As a street vendor, your canopy is a business expense. You want your canopy to be worthy of the investment.

By all means, to truly get your money’s worth, you need an outdoor canopy you can trust to be long-lasting. 

Like with all high-quality WeatherPort® outdoor event facility from Alaska Structures®, our in-house engineering and design teams work with you to create a one-of-a-kind outdoor canopy to ensure the utmost quality. All WeatherPort canopies offer American-made craftsmanship, using the highest-quality materials, and lean  manufacturing to reduce waste so that you can enjoy a heavy-duty canopy structure for many, many years! 

Each WeatherPort canopy consists of an architectural membrane that is tensioned over a heavy-duty framing system. WeatherPort’s tensioned membranes are engineered for long-lasting durability. Each canopy cover:

• Is mold- and mildew-resistant
• Will not rot
• Is UV-stabilized to withstand prolonged exposure to the sun (not coated like other fabrics)
• Can meet the fire safety requirements outlined in the California Code of Regulations for membrane structures
• Offers greater abrasion resistance than other PVC- or PE-based fabric membranes

Depending on the size and engineering required, the canopy frames are made from high-strength galvanized steel or lightweight aircraft-grade aluminum. 

A key component to using an outdoor canopy safely is the ability to securely anchor it to resist sudden and high wind gusts. WeatherPort provides a wide range of canopy anchoring systems to safely operate and use a canopy in high winds and during storms with heavy snow loads. WeatherPort canopies can be used year-round due to the fact they can be securely anchored to any level surface, including dirt, sand, gravel, asphalt, concrete, and wood.

[Related: Strategies to Increase Your Food Truck Revenue]

Find a Canopy That Offers a Fast Setup  

By design, each WeatherPort canopy is engineered for long-lasting durability and portability. Setting up and disassembling a WeatherPort canopy is a simple process that can be done in about 10 to 15 minutes (for a 10’ x 10’ WeatherPort canopy). 

While this is a little longer than most pop-up canopies, customers that choose to invest in a WeatherPort canopy are either fed up with replacing a flimsy canopy every couple of weeks or looking for a heavy-duty canopy structure that can safely be used in areas with sudden and high winds.

Being able to quickly and easily install your canopy means you can focus on your business, attract customers with a good-looking outdoor structure, and generate more sales. 

Outdoor canopies by WeatherPort are easy to transport. We have designed all the pieces of our canopy systems to fit into the bed of a standard sized pickup truck, and offer 1- to 2-person carry bags to make it easy to transport your WeatherPort canopy to your booth location. For our large canopy structures, we offer heavy-duty roto-mold containers. 

[Related: Guide to Farmers Markets]

Don’t Limit Yourself to Standard Canopy Sizes

Why limit yourself to the handful of standard canopy sizes available at the local outdoor or sporting goods store when you can custom-design a canopy structure from WeatherPort that will fit your exact canopy needs? 

When you buy quality canopies from WeatherPort, you have the ability to choose from a wide range of models, sizes, color schemes, custom-printed logos, side curtain options, and much more! Opt for a custom-made canopy to help promote your business! 

A Four-Sided Canopy Designed for Durability

WeatherPort’s four-sided canopy is our most popular outdoor canopy for small venues and street vendors with a 10’ x 10’ to a 20’ x 20’ booth space. While having the typical four sides, the unique shape sets it apart from the boring “party tents” we all see so often. Furthermore, the durability provides a life span much, much longer than any typical “pop-up canopy.” Choose a four-sided canopy from the following sizes:

• 10’ x 10’ Canopy
• 10’ x 15’ Canopy
• 12’ x 12’ Canopy
• 16’ x 16’ Canopy
• 20’ x 10’ Canopy
• 20’ x 20’ Canopy

Custom-Design a Six-Sided Canopy with the Hexapae Series

More spacious than the four-sided canopies, WeatherPort’s Hexapae is a six-sided canopy structure. The unique design is sure to be an attractive addition to any street fair or outdoor event! 

Encompassing the same high-quality engineering as all of WeatherPort’s products, the Hexape is a ruggedly durable, portable canopy structure that offers a quick setup. Choose from either the 16’ or 30’ diameter 6-sided canopy models. 

Large Eight-Sided Canopy — The WeatherPort Octopae

As your business and product offerings grow, the large eight-sided canopy is a great addition to promote and conduct business at outdoor events, street fairs, and farmers markets. Perfect for mid- to large-size events, the WeatherPort Octopae is a spacious eight-sided canopy that allows business owners to choose an open-air concept or create a private and enclosed canopy structure using optional side curtains. The Octopae comes in 35’ and 40’ diameter options. 

Enclosing a Canopy with Side Curtains

All WeatherPort canopy structures can be custom-designed with side curtains. Simple and quick to attach, our canopy side curtains provide privacy and protection  from the rain, cold winds, or bright sunlight coming in from the sides. What’s more is that the side curtains are able to roll up or entirely remove as you wish. Promote your business with custom-printed logos or graphics on your canopy side curtains!

Choose from the following side curtain options:

• Zipper entry
• Solid
• Rome
• Paris
• Jumbo screen
• Jumbo clear
• Full screen
• Elite
• Aero

Need help deciding which canopy side curtain works best with your aesthetic? Reach out to Alaska Structure’s design team to choose your best option.

Stand Out From the Crowd With a Colorful Canopy

Street fairs are typically rain or shine. Even on the dreariest of days, make sure your canopy still shines above the rest. 

Raise your visibility by embracing your choice of color. WeatherPort offers a unique selection of fabric colors and patterns to compliment and highlight your business and products. Do you sell locally made honey at a farmers market? How about a bright yellow canopy, custom-printed with your logo across the front and on the back side-curtain? Whether you want to stand out visually or match the existing infrastructure of the location, our design team has many options to help you create a unique and one-of-a-kind canopy structure! 

Choose from one of the following standard fabric and powder coating colors or reach out to a WeatherPort representative to request a specialty color.

Choose a Fabric Color for Your Canopy Structure

Choose the Powder Coat Color for Your Canopy Structure

Being able to choose a color for your powder coating provides a superior aesthetic to the natural metal finish of WeatherPort’s building systems. Powder coating also adds an additional level of protection against corrosive elements such as rust, chemicals, salt air and sea spray, humidity, and more.

Increase Brand Awareness by Custom-Printing a Canopy with Your Business Logo

While you’re giving your business everything you’ve got to increase sales as a street vendor, you might find yourself traveling to different fairs quite often. As your location changes, it can create a hurdle for previous customers to do repeat business with you if they can’t find you. This is why brand recognition is so important for street vendors. 

Adding logos, designs, or messaging to your canopy is a great way for customers to remember you and your products. Branding transforms any canopy structure into a promotional instrument for your business. 

Banners are often difficult to hang properly and inexpensive signs don’t last long. That’s why it’s important to invest in promotional designs that best represent your business. WeatherPort is one of a select few companies in the United States with high-end printing machines capable of printing directly onto tensioned fabric membranes in near-magazine quality. Whether it is a single logo printed on a branded canopy or a complete custom-printed canopy, you are sure to get recognized in a WeatherPort canopy structure.  

When you incorporate your branding directly onto your promotional canopy, you save time and energy. No more struggling to hang a banner evenly or transporting additional signage. Not to mention, no more worrying about having enough zip ties to keep your banner in place. Because now your banner displays loud and proud the instant your canopy is set up for use. 

Give Your Business the Representation It Deserves With a High-Quality Canopy Structure

Whether you are just starting out or have been vending at street fairs for years, now is the time to invest in a high-quality canopy structure. 

When you invest in the WeatherPort Canopy Series, you can count on using a canopy structure designed for long-lasting durability. 

WeatherPort® is a brand of high-quality fabric buildings from Alaska Structures®. If you are interested in learning more about our fabric buildings and remote camp systems please contact us by calling +1-907-344-1565 or completing our online form to request a consultation.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons