Since I just talked about the recent Gasparilla--and high winds--I thought a little basics primer would be of use to you newbies.
Oldtimers who have been around know what to do.
In the 38 years of doing shows I have been blown down once, and lost work and had booth damage, and that was because a hurricane hit our show in Vero Beach at 4 am in the morn with winds in excess of 75 mph.
Anyways, here are the basics. Follow them and most times you will get out intact and undamaged. You gotta work quick, no dilly-dallying.
First off, get both the front and the rear side curtains out of the way, unzip them. They are just wind-catchers.
Undo your front and rear awnings if you have any, get them on the ground, quickly. Fold all this stuff up later. You want your booth down and work out quickly.
OK. Now take all the art off the walls and package it up. Same if you had art on pedestals or shelves. Get it into the van quickly. Most times this can be accomplished 15-30 minutes. Things don't have to be perfectly packaged. You can do that later. You want things down so if the booth takes a quick wind hit you don't lose work.
Next, and this applies to 2-D artists or any artist who uses fabric over their metal panels. Get them off quickly. They are sails and catch the wind. With them off the air will flow quickly thru instead of building lift and tension on your structure.
If you have solid wall panels, like ProPanels or door sections. Get them down on the ground. Reduce your wind resistance.
Now comes the roof which can be tricky in windy times. If you can get help one or two people who will be able to hold on to corner poles while you are undoing the fasteners to your roof.
Important. Don't undo your weights or tiedowns until roof is off. Take all the help you can get.
When faced with a choice of whether to take roof off back to front or in reverse, think about wind direction. Undo the end that goes with the wind. If you try to go against it, it will be very difficult--too much vector forces from the wind will make it impossible to roll back your roof.
Get it on the ground fast. Now you have no wind resistance and the booth structure will come down without bending parts.
Now, take the time to fold covers and put them away. Same goes for the roof.
If you follow this method you will get out of most windy shows (even in gusts up to 25 mph) intact and undamaged. After all that is the only result you want.
Print this out and save it in your van, you never know when it is going to come in handy. Fair weather friends and mucho sales. Nels.
