My name is Anne, and among other things, I'm a twelve-year attendee and eight-year staff member at "that big arts festival" held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. I've seen haboobs and giant dust devils eat pop-ups, carports, and domes for lunch. I've witnessed cars getting destroyed and people rushed to the hospital because inadequately designed or secured structures went cartwheeling across the playa. I've gone into my tent in the afternoon to change clothes or fetch something, and been bathed in sweat in seconds flat. There had to be a better solution.

 

So I decided to figure out a way to make a shade structure that was bomb-proof, yet lightweight and compact.