Big Top Chautauqua Gets New Canvas Tent

Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua is putting up a brand-new, massive canvas tent for this year’s concert schedule in Bayfield.

Despite the higher cost of canvas, the Big Top managers refuse to switch to vinyl. The new tent is 483 feet in circumference, with 2,100 yards of royal blue canvas and 900 yards of pearl gray canvas.

Operations manager Phil Anich has been with Big Top Chautauqua from the start — in good weather and bad. He said the tent is a unique feature.

“The tent, there is really something special about it. It is so much like a ship, seemingly acres of canvas that are in the air, that are held down by ropes and poles,” he said. “When the wind is nailing it, when the rain is coming down so hard that you can barely hear yourself think, it’s really quite an adventure.”

But there were too many adventures for the Big Top last season, according to marketing director Jamey Penney-Ritter.

“We had unbelievable windstorms up here, which, when you combine it with the age of our canvas, our seams ripped, our canvas ripped,” Penney-Ritter said.

The cost of replacing the canvas tent skyrocketed, from $85,000 seven years ago to $140,000 today. And although vinyl is cheaper, Penny-Ritter said it’s not an option.

“Vinyl, it’s like a plastic wall, and the sound hits it and then comes back at you from all angles, and it’s really kind of sharp on your ears, whereas canvas is like a breathing organism,” Penney-Ritter said.

Seeing a concert inside the breathing organism is special, according to “Tent Show Radio” host Michael Perry.

“Seeing the show under canvas is absolutely special. I always say that place, it’s supposed to hold 900, but it makes them feel like a cozy dozen,” Perry said. “And the sound of the audience and the music coming off that canvas, there’s just his gentleness to it.”

It’s the fifth new tent in Big Top Chautauqua’s 28-year history.