How to Weight a Flea Market Canopy on Concrete or Asphalt

Last year, before we set up at our first flea market / county fair booth, I did some research on how to weigh down our tents and camper awning. We knew our booth would be on an old tennis court, so there wouldn't be any option to stake into the ground. 

My research proved that 40 POUNDS of weight, PER LEG, was recommended to keep your tents stabilized, when set up on concrete or asphalt. There are several options to go about getting 40 pounds per leg, but I wanted something easy, inexpensive, and fit in with the look of our booth. 

Can you find the weights, in any of my pictures? They are there! 

I use 5 gallon buckets of water! A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds, so 5 gallons equals 40 pounds. But here's my trick - I hide my buckets in the burlap coffee sacks! You don't see blue, red, orange, and yellow buckets here! 

I have plenty of five gallon buckets and they get used throughout the year to hold flowers, animal feed, etc, so that is my practical item to use. I have lids for my buckets as well. With either twine or bungee cords, we tie the tent corners to the buckets. My bearded man is responsible for hiding the buckets and anchoring the tents, but he also has a little fun while setting up!

After the show, we can pour the water out (or use it to water flowers, reserve for when the electricity is out, or the water well malfunctions) and stack the buckets back up and out of the way, opposed to concrete filled buckets which will only have one purpose and always be heavy to transport. I've also read about concrete becoming a dangerous projectile, when severe weather strikes, whereas the lid would most likely come off the bucket and spill the water out.

At all of our previous markets, we have experienced at least one day of windy conditions and so far, our tents have not flipped over or blown around, unlike some of our neighboring vendor booths. Last week, I saw several booths literally being held down by people, tires, concrete blocks, cases of water, or walls simply falling over, since they weren't weighted. Last year, one completely flipped over and the booth behind us had those little weights that hung on the poles and it "walked" around all day long.  I think those weights were 5-10 pounds max. 

Our doors are also secured in with the tent poles and serve as additional weight to anchor our booth. On the windy days, clothes racks and mannequins are placed and strategically tied to points to prevent them from falling. 

As a added bonus, in case of emergency, we have 30 gallons of water, on sight. (4 buckets on white tent, 2 on camper awning.) Will this keep the booth weighted if the tornado /severe storm comes through, most likely not and I would pack up all my stuff, if I knew bad weather was coming! Although so far, we haven't blown away under windy conditions. Please, for the safety of you and customers alike, make sure you use some type of weights on your tents. It definitely makes for a more enjoyable market experience, when you don't have to worry about your tent flying off and you can focus on visiting and helping customers!   

Yamboree, Day 3

Yamboree, Day 3 - Saturday 

We really do have a lot of fun working with Angea and setting up our space! 

Jeff came each morning to help us open up the tents, rearrange furniture, and take some of our pictures. He decided that Angea's scarecrow needed to ride my hobby horse! Lol

Each morning, we changed stuff up and rearranged stuff. 

One customer saw my picture collage on the door and thought I had met some of the guys from Duck Dynasty, but I had to explain that was my husband in the pictures and he had started growing that beard, BEFORE the Duck Dynasty show was a household name. Seriously, he did! At first, I didn't like it and he got weird looks when we were together. Then all of a sudden, these girls at the grocery and feed store would start being in awe and wanting to reach out and touch it. That's when we heard about these Robertson people on tv. We don't have cable, so we hadn't seen it yet. 

Our attempt at a selfie and someone always has to make a funny face and looks like those corn shocks are Indian feathers coming out of his headband! 

Jeff was talking to another vendor and he was like man, y'all are so cool and another said we have the most fun in our booth! We also heard several saying we had the best booth there! 

My neice, Brenna, came to help out, during the Saturday rush. We appreciate you coming to help us!

At times, it was busy and we were unable to speak to everyone who came by and we do apologize for that, but we thank you all for coming to see us and shopping our handmade and recycled, upcycled, repurposed items. 

Then, all of a sudden, it was over, we packed up, and the country roads took us home, once again. We are tired today (Sunday) and trying to catch up on some rest. Tomorrow, it's back to work in the wedding shop and trying to get new items listed in my store. 

We can't say it enough, we are grateful and thankful for each and everyone who comes by, who shops, or shares about our events! We enjoy getting to meet and visit with y'all! Thanks for being a part of our tribe! 

Yamboree Day 2

Yamboree Day 2, we have more fun than anyone! 

So we get our booth all set and ready to open and we eat yam pie for breakfast again, but this time in the glorious sunshine! Not sure what tomorrow's breakfast will be, since that's the last of that pie! 

Jeff had come to help us open up and move the heavy stuff around and we were having this discussion about recycling and how we all find and repurpose many items, then Angea and Jeff were talking about things you don't recycle. Angea knew someone who washed ice and put it back in the freezer, then said "there's just some things you don't recycle..... Like used toilet paper." Of course I had a big bite of pie in my mouth and just about died laughing, choking, and crying so hard! I about spewed pie everywhere. A little while later, the lady across the way said she wanted to join us, because we were having too much fun! 

So a while back, I shared a sneak peek of my Saturday night sewing. Well here's my flannel and vintage lace duster I made! This one is mine, but we do have a few more similar ones available again tomorrow (and soon in my Etsy shop.) 

My mom has made some crochet hats, ear warmers, and scarves for our booth. She's got ninja turtles for the boys and these cute little pig tail toboggans for the girls! My niece and nephew love their hats granny made them! 

We are grateful, thankful, and blessed by each and everyone of you who stops by. A lady across the way has been looking at Miss Gussie and we've been talking each day. She really wants a camper, to travel to a few markets, but had met discouragement from her friend. After talking with and giving her a tour of my glamper, she said I had inspired her so much. This evening, she told me I had know idea how much I have encouraged and motivated her and helped give her new direction. I had tears as we spoke. She had looked at one camper already and after talking with me, she called the owner to only find out it had already sold. I hope one day she finds her own little camper and we meet again! 

This was the cutest and sweetest little shopper! Her mom bought the purse for her on Thursday and she had to show me her new purse, when she came with her mom today! Then she decided that she needed the pink zebra stick horse and she rode away on her! 

We had lots of fun and will be open again Saturday from 9:00-5:00. 

We will have several good sales going on, so please stop by and say hi! Also, as a reminder, we do have gift basket items available for buyers thank you baskets for the livestock sale. Grab a  basket, pick out some fun finds and we will wrap it up pretty for you.