Marquee

The Auckland Committee are discussing the potential purchase of a marquee. It would be a good way to expand available space at a venue, especially since some of the venues in Auckland are significantly smaller than the likes of Motu Moana and Camp Adair.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience/insights into what would make good marque.

I think things like the following would be useful to consider:

  • Easy to put up and take down
  • Hardy - won’t break easily (I expect most helpers would have little experience in setting up marquees so we don’t want one that is easily bent/broken)
  • Fully waterproof
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Those things sound good. ^

Also space efficient. Though there’s only so much you can manage on that front. Marquees tend to take up storage space. :slight_smile:

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  • Lightweight, or at least neatly packaged in bits that can be carried by one or two people. Because it has to get in the trailer and is probably going to be lugged around a bit to be set up at venues.

From our experience with lightweight gazebos in Wellington, we found that breakages tend to happen due to weather rather than setup, and that it was easy to lose bits. So those are risks to be aware of (we’ve moved to heavier pop-ups as a result).

We also found that once we had them, we started using them all the time, because they were there. Depending of ease of setup you may find that with anything you purchase, which you might want to factor into your cost of ownership vs cost of hire calculation.

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I actually find it difficult to set dress without them. They create separate, more intimate, spaces out of giant rooms. Though I am not personally a fan of the new ones as they don’t fit indoor spaces as well.

Marquees have the benefit of being made for outdoor use, for longer time periods*, so hopefully weather has less of an impact. If you want it to last, avoid the ones that look like large gazebos. Canvas is good (but heavy), plastic not so good.


  • One of the places I grew up in had a marquee that it still standing. It’s been pitched for most, if not all, of my life. :smiley:
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