Recreation Football

I suppose you could say that the modern day canopy is a prehistoric design. If you go back as far as you can in history and look into the shape and design of the cavemen you will probably find a form of shelter similar to the modern day canopy. It may of been constructed of grass, leaves, fronds or leather, but still pretty much like the current day design. Now granted, they probably would have had side curtains on these shelters, but we can provide those today also.

A canopy is usually considered a "tent" without the side curtains all the way around. They come in many shapes and sizes, for many purposes. There are canopies that are attached to buildings that fold in and out to provide shade and protection from the elements. There are canopies that serve as small shelters over hot dog vendors on the city streets or by the sea shore. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts use canopies when they are at events and camp outs. Weddings, graduations, barbeques, birthday parties, and the list goes on and on. You don't realize how much the simple canopy is needed and used in our daily lives.

Years ago, at the turn of the century, a gentleman named W.C. Coleman was out selling office equipment door to door and happened across a type of kerosene lantern that had been converted to use gasoline. The gasoline burned a lot cleaner than the kerosine and provided a much whiter looking flame. The rest is history. As you know the Coleman company went on to make lanterns, coolers, gas stoves, sleeping bags, tents and of course canopies.

The current day canopies are no longer made of left over animal skins or grass, but high tech fabrics that fight the elements extremely well, and last many years. Coleman, just like the other manufacturers make several different sizes and colors of these canopies and most them can be set up in as little as three minutes. The mechanics of the canopies are quite easy to use. You simply pull the canopy out of the bag and stand it up on its legs. At this time it is compacted to about one square foot and has the fabric attached to the frame. It is a lot easier with four people to open it, with one at each corner, but one person can open it by just pulling one corner at a time out from the center. In just a few seconds you have all the legs out to their open position and are pushing the top up from the four corners to raise it up. They usually have convenient little buttons that pop out in preset holes on the legs to secure the proper positions.

Coleman has gone one step further with their smaller 10 x 10 canopies and is making canopies under a special license from the NFL (National Football League) that carry your individual teams colors and logos on the fabric of the canopy. Now, you can have your tail gate party out in the parking lot or where wherever you want and show off your team spirit.