Tents and Canopies

Some say they need a tent, others say they need a canopy... What's the difference?

In our industry both terms are pretty much used interchangeably. One manufacturer may call their product a canopy, where another manufacturer may call it a tent, and in Canada a manufacturer will probably call it a marquee. Anchor Industries, the world's largest tent manufacturer and the company whose tents we carry, uses all three names for various products they manufacture.

There are two basic structures, first a top that has interior poles, perimeter poles and ropes that are needed to hold the structure in place. It is commonly referred to as a pole type.

The second type is a freestanding frame that is self-supporting and the top is placed over the frame. This tent has ropes to hold it in place and they are not necessarily for support. This is referred to as a frame tent.

Wilson Rental follows Anchor Industries terminology and we call our do-it-yourself tents---party canopies. For the larger heavy-duty tents that are installed by Wilson Rental staff, we use the term tents. And, for covered walkways we use the term marquee.

Sides are available on everything except the do-it-yourself canopies. Visit our tent definitions page for a description of all our tents.