Company News

HARD Summer Music Festival Features Stretch Shapes' Shade Structures

10/4/2018

HARD Summer Music Festival first premiered in 2007 and has rapidly gained nation-wide recognition within the American dance community for its upbeat music, charged atmosphere, and bigger than life performances. Fans come back to this festival in Southern California year after year for a full immersion into an atmosphere created by the fuse of electronic and hip-hop music. This 2-day event in August attracts approximately 80,000 music lovers each day and took place at the Auto Club Speedway approximately 50 miles from Los Angeles, California.

This year, the HARD Summer Music Festival experienced a new and improved self with the support of America’s best-known electronic music event promoter, Insomniac. Founded in 1993, Insomniac is now the world’s largest dance music and experience company. From festivals in the depths of the forest to the world-renowned Electric Daisy Carnival, Insomniac creates beauty and inspiration in every element of their festivals. With the philosophies from Insomniac in place, improvements were made across the HARD Summer Music Festival, everything from logistical guidance to aesthetic upgrades. Such aesthetics included 3 massive Shade Structures made by Stretch Shapes out of Eugene, Oregon.

Prior to the event, Insomniac reached out to Stretch Shapes as the leading innovator of stretch fabric products for event professionals. The idea was to create one shade structure that was colorful, allowed airflow, provided shade, and could be an artistic element of the festival. With an idea in mind, the team at Stretch Shapes worked some magic. From a simple idea, the Stretch Shapes team was able to create a variety of visual concepts for the Insomniac team to pick from. Upon the review, each concept was loved so much that all three Shade Structures were a must have for the festival.

As soon as Insomniac signed off on the designs, the Stretch Shapes team began working on all elements needed to make the three giant 100’ foot shade structures. Six different colors of IFR (inherently flame retardant) fabric was cut with a CNC machine using proprietary software. All 600 Flat Panel Sails within the structure were sewn in-house and Stretch Shapes’ world-class install crew was there for every step of installation and strike.

Stretch Shapes

The end result was 3 geometrically beautiful shade structures that helped set the tone of the festival yet provided the festival attendees a sanctuary away from the scorching UV rays.

During the event, high temps hovered just below the 100-degree mark, prompting everyone at the Speedway to slap on extra sunscreen or seek shelter from the powerful UV rays. All said and done, the real hero was the massive Shady Lane Shade Structures, which stretched almost the full length of the split between opposite ends of the venue. Not only did these giant shade structures provide shade, but they also had some serious misting action which provided a much-needed cool down on the walk between sets.

At night the shade structures took on the role of crucial landmarks that allowed attendees to easily gain their bearings. Whether people gathered under the tents to meet with friends or were just passing through, people often found a show of its own as they watched the lights flash and pass through the cutouts of the tents in tangent with the music in the distance.

At the end of the day, the three bemouth shade structures were a huge success. Posts featuring Stretch Shapes' Shade Structures continue to flood social media weeks after the event and it’s easy to conclude these functional art structures were critical yet beautiful elements of the festival.

For more information, go to stretchshapes.net.


Contact:
[email protected]