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Whether it’s a huge concert, street festival, corporate gala or other large event where a sea of tents suddenly materializes to house the festivities, Made in the Shade Tent Rentals (MITS), based in West Sacramento, Calif., specializes in this kind of practical magic.
“A lot of engineering and planning goes into these temporary structures,” says Kevin Vasquez, chief operations officer for MITS. “We build something from nothing.”
These temporary structures take shape at everything from major West Coast air shows and festivals to private and corporate events. The MITS crew also supplies tents for a wide range of events at the public parks at Capitol Mall in Sacramento. “We really like these larger installs,” Vasquez says.
MITS stepped up to the plate when MLB team the A’s announced it would spend a few years playing in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. “We littered the place with all kinds of tenting, including a press media tent with hard-panel side walls and glass doors,” Vasquez says.
The company also offers long-term tent rentals—typically three to four months—for construction companies, farms during fruit-picking season and others. No matter the client, one thing never changes. “We strive to be safe,” Vasquez says. “Take your time and do it right.”
From side hustle to family business
Made in the Shade Tent Rentals started from humble beginnings in northern California in 1990, when the local tent rental industry was still in its infancy. Back then, Vasquez’s parents, Donald and Nancy, were raising three young sons (Donny, Chris and Kevin), plus working at the University of California, Davis. The couple saw an opportunity to earn some extra money when a family friend decided to sell his business, Coveralls Unlimited. This included a few small, covered trailers and tents to rent to area fairs and festivals.
“While my parents didn’t come from a tent or event background, they were go-getters,” says Vasquez.
The family stored everything in the garage, washed the tents on the lawn and spread them to dry on the family’s boat, he recalls.
By the mid-1990s, the business had grown enough so that Nancy, the chief financial officer (CFO), could leave her job at the university. She worked from a desk in the kitchen at the Vasquez home in Vacaville. “She was a woman in a male-dominated industry and had to overcome the critics,” Vasquez says. “Her attitude was ‘Let’s prove them wrong.’”
MITS developed a reputation for being dependable and affordable, serving the festival circuit throughout the Bay Area. In the 2000s, MITS relocated to West Sacramento, where the company began serving various organizations, nonprofits, corporations and athletic centers in the area.
While the company thrived, Vasquez decided to follow his own career path after high school. He worked full time as a welder for a few years but decided that didn’t suit him. He joined the family business in the spring of 2011.
“I didn’t want to be known as ‘the owner’s son,’” says Vasquez, who was an installer and driver. “I willingly did the 12- to 14-hour days of early-morning installations and late-night takedowns in all kinds of weather. I wanted to learn the business from the ground up.”
Vasquez also brought a fresh perspective. “I saw gaps where we could do things better, like storing equipment in the warehouse,” he says, or using electric jackhammers instead of air-powered ones.
Greater efficiency helped fuel the company’s growth. “Not long after I started, we were contracted to handle all the small vendors at a big music festival in Michigan,” Vasquez says. “We’d never done anything like this before, and we didn’t know what we were getting into.”
It took the crew three days of travel with a truck and trailer to reach Rothbury, Mich., home of Electric Forest, a multi-genre music festival. The team worked for nearly 10 days and pulled off something that seemed almost impossible at first. Not only have the festival’s organizers become repeat clients, but this job also opened the door to other big gigs. “We took a risk, and it paid off,” Vasquez says.
Today, the MITS team includes about 23 installers and warehouse staff, along with two salespeople, an office manager and two supervisors.
The company remains a family business. While Donald retired in February 2020, Nancy continues to serve as the CFO. “My brother Donny and I handle sales, marketing and logistics,” adds Vasquez, whose wife, Lauren, is the company’s recruiting manager. “Family businesses can be tough, but when you set boundaries and respect each other, you find ways to come together and make it work.”
Making the industry better
Working together also extends to Advanced Textiles Association (ATA), where Vasquez serves on the board of directors of the Tent Rental Division. He’s focused on raising the level of professionalism and training in the tent rental business while striking a balance with safety and practicality.
“I go on ‘code calls’ regarding tents and safety codes,” Vasquez says. This usually involves a tent’s wind rating, which indicates the maximum wind speed it can withstand before risking collapse or damage.
“While some inspectors want tents to have a wind rating of 120 miles per hour, most of our tents are rated for 80 to 90 mph,” Vasquez says. “You need to evacuate a tent when winds reach 38 mph. Our goal is to clear up the confusion and make things more streamlined for everyone.”
Vasquez is also helping ATA team up with the American Rental Association and Manufacturers and Tent Renters Association to create a certification program for tent rental companies and installers. The groups started working together in early 2024 to create training courses that promote safe tent-installation practices. “There was no official training course before,” says Vasquez, who is an instructor.
The self-paced online learning program focuses on the foundations of safety in the industry. “At our company, you have to take that first course and pass it to work here,” Vasquez says.
The classroom component, which has been offered at several in-person training meetings in California and Minnesota in 2025, offers hands-on learning with The Essentials of Tent Anchoring. ATA and its partners continue to develop new courses so participants can earn a Level 1 Professional Tent Installer certification. Find more information at tent.textiles.org.
It’s exciting to see the tent rental industry achieve new levels of professionalism and safety, Vasquez says. “In our business, you take a pile of pipes, fittings and vinyl to build a temporary ‘city’ and create a beautiful space for people to enjoy. We want to prioritize safety while helping the tent industry grow.”
Darcy Maulsby is a freelance writer based in Lake City, Iowa.
Photography by Rudy Meyers Photography
SIDEBAR: Opportunities soar with California air show
There’s nothing like an air show to inspire people of all ages. Managers of the California Capital Airshow (CCA) know it’s also important to offer safe, comfortable facilities for the spectators and vendors who gather at Mather Airfield near Sacramento.
“We’ve worked with this air show for 15 years,” says Kevin Vasquez,chief operations officer of Made in the Shade Tent Rentals.
CCA connected with the company after a previous vendor failed to deliver on its promises, Vasquez says. “One of my dad’s cousins, who’s a fan of vintage airplanes, asked the CCA coordinators, ‘Why don’t you try Nancy and Donald Vasquez?’”
Since then, Made in the Shade Tent Rentals has become a trusted partner as CCA has grown. The March 2025 show attracted more than 140,000 spectators. To accommodate thousands of people, the CCA needs a variety of tents to house vendors, exhibits and more.
Made in the Shade Tent Rentals supplies 40-foot-wide tents with various design options. Vasquez suggested using an Arcum tent with a curved roofline for The Hangar beer garden. “I thought this rounded roofline looked like a vintage airplane hangar. We got to be creative, and the client loved it.”
SIDEBAR: Why should young people consider a job in this industry?
You don’t need an expensive college degree to succeed in this business. It’s a skilled trade with a viable career path. You can start as an installer and grow into different areas of the business. You’re not cooped up in an office, since you get to work outside, stay active and build cool stuff. A family business like ours is a lot different than a big corporation. We’re invested in our employees and want to help them learn and grow.