The festival season spans multiple months, starting in early spring and going late into fall. That means, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter heat at your festival. Since many of these are multi-day events, lots of music festivals offer camping to attendees for a convenient and fun way to experience everything they have to offer. It can be a challenge to beat the heat at a festival in general, but throw in an overnight stay at a campsite and it can be daunting to make a plan around how you’ll stay cool all day and night. The last thing you want to do is come back to a hot, uninhabitable tent after a long day of standing, dancing, and other festival antics.
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Luckily, campers have been braving warm weather for centuries, so there are plenty of useful tips and tricks festival goers can draw from. Today we’ll break down how to stay cool in your festival tent, from which tent to bring and how to pitch it right to the best tent accessories to beat the heat. Let’s get started!
Pick the Right Tent for Heat and Humidity
When picking a tent for a festival where heat is a primary concern, you’ll want to consider two qualities: material and size. Opt for a tent with lots of mesh screen windows and doors. Mesh is a type of fabric with strong threads woven together to create tiny holes. In a tent, these tiny holes allow for enhanced airflow and ventilation in your tent, which regulates the interior temperature and helps to keep you cool. The more mesh in the design of your tent, the cooler you’ll stay. Tents are rarely made of 100% mesh, however. To further increase your chances of staying cool, choose a canvas tent over synthetic fabrics for the remaining tent fabric. Cotton canvas is much more breathable than synthetic alternatives thanks to its natural fibers. A tent with a healthy mix of mesh fabric and cotton canvas will be your best bet in maximizing ventilation and in turn, keeping you cool in hot and humid climates.
Outside of the fabric it’s made out of, consider the size of your festival tent. Generally, the larger your tent, the cooler the inside will stay. While the number of people in your group is usually the determining factor in the size of the shelter you choose, you may want to go for a bigger tent than you need to reap the cooling benefits of larger tents. Plus, this will give you more storage room for all your festival gear!
How To Pitch a Festival Tent To Stay Cool
Believe it or not, how you pitch your tent can be just as important as the tent itself. While you may not have much say in what your campsite looks like at a festival, if you have the opportunity to pitch your tent under the shade of trees, take it! Setting up camp away from roads and pavement can also be beneficial as these elements tend to attract heat with their dark surfaces.
If you’re able to pinpoint a constant breeze at camp, try to position your tent so the entrance is facing into the wind to encourage stronger airflow. Crowds may also be unavoidable, but if you can, get as far away from other campers as possible by camping on the outskirts of the campground. Festivals get busy, and the bigger and more concentrated the crowd of campers, the hotter your area will be.
Some people like to take their tents down completely during sunlight hours to avoid creating a greenhouse effect as heat gets trapped inside throughout the day. If that feels like more effort than it’s worth, simply leave your mesh screens open all day instead – just make sure you don’t leave anything valuable inside.
The Best Tent Accessories To Beat the Heat
Once your tent is picked out and pitched successfully, consider adding a few accessories to help minimize the intensity of the hot weather.
A Canvas Canopy
Shade is the name of the game when you’re trying to escape the heat, especially in arid climates like the deserts of Coachella. Canvas canopies are a great addition to canvas tents because they add much-needed shade to camp, without completely enclosing you in a shelter.
A Cloth Tarp
Every campsite needs at least one ground tarp to protect the bottom of your tent. Instead of bringing a standard poly tarp, opt for a cloth tarp. Similar to the cotton canvas tent, cloth tarps are more breathable than synthetic alternatives. The more breathable your gear, the less heat will be trapped.
A Reflective Rain Fly Sheet
One of the most useful tent accessories for minimizing heat inside your tent is a reflective rain fly sheet. Just like a ground tarp, every tent needs a rainfly sheet. Choosing one made from a reflective material will bounce sun rays off of it instead of absorbing them, keeping the interior of your shelter cooler.
Battery-Powered Fans and Portable A/C Systems
Equipping your tent with multiple battery-powered fans or a portable A/C unit will be game-changing to the temperature inside your tent. The number of fans you’ll need will depend on the size of your tent, but a good rule of thumb is to place a fan every 20 feet to maximize their effectiveness. Portable A/C units will be the more expensive option but will make the biggest difference thanks to their power.
Other Tips To Stay Cool at a Festival Campsite
Staying cool at a festival campsite goes behind just your tent setup. Think about your sleeping gear, for example. Pack lightweight blankets made from breathable fabrics like cotton or linen instead of a heavy sleeping bag. Wearing lightweight, breathable clothes is also important for similar reasons. If you have the room, invest in a mesh cot to further enhance your comfort. Not only is a mesh cot cozier than sleeping directly on the floor, but it also elevates you off the ground, allowing air to circulate around you to keep you cool at night.
You’ll likely be expending a ton of energy throughout a day at a festival. Make sure to drink plenty of water to help regulate your body temperature and encourage sweat. If you have access to showers at the festival, take a cold one before bed and sleep with wet hair to further cool yourself down.
The Bottom Line
Festival season is an exciting time of year for people who love live music. Unfortunately, many of these events take place in the heat of summer, if not late spring and early fall when temperatures are still high in many locations. On top of that, many attendees will buy passes to camp at these festivals, taking on the challenge of staying cool for multiple days and nights at a time. Thankfully, campers have been beating the heat for a long time, so there’s no shortage of advice in this arena. By understanding what tents perform best in hot weather, how pitching them can contribute to temperature regulation, and the best accessories to keep cool, you can go into festival season with confidence knowing that you’ll be ready to beat the heat like the pros.
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