The wild, wild west

Canvas Unlimited provides tent and event services in and around Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

A few miles west of the Continental Divide, encompassed on all sides by mountains, Jackson Hole, Wyo. sits beside the headwaters of the Snake River. With its low lying valleys, rivers and streams, this gateway to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks is home to Canvas Unlimited Event Rentals, a company that specializes in providing tent and event needs for weddings, as well as corporate, community and nonprofit events. The company was formed in 1995 as an event rental company after evolving from a tent and awning parent company in central Wyoming. Pam Romsa and her brother Paul took over the business from their father who had been renting tents since the 1960s.

Weddings account for approximately 60 percent of the company’s revenue. “Grand Teton National Park, with the Tetons as a magnificent backdrop, draws brides and grooms and other groups that want to host outdoor events in a picture post-card setting at the base of these dramatic mountains,” says Pam Romsa, Canvas Unlimited’s president. “People are often surprised to find out that we rent tent heaters year-round because the temperature cools down quite quickly in our mountain valley. Heaters ensure a super event even in mid-July and August.”

Anchored in the town square

Several times a year Canvas Unlimited provides tent and event services for the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce on the famous Jackson Hole town square. The company sets up frame tents on the pavement, and because the events have grown in size over the years, the size of the tents has grown as well. The combination of the need for larger tents and the new fire marshal requiring more space on the side of the tents for a fire lane prompted the company to work with the town to have permanent anchors installed. “We take pride in our ability to work with clients’ ever-changing needs but at the same time keeping safety as our main priority,” Romsa says.

Horse sense

Canvas Unlimited provides tents and equipment for many of the non-profits in Jackson Hole that host outdoor fundraisers, including an event for the town’s Therapeutic Riding Association called Stomping the Divots. The event raises money for the association, whose mission is to promote “healing with horses through equine assisted therapeutic and educational activities for people of all ages with disabilities, regardless of economic status.”

“Seeing the faces of the children that this event helps tugs at our heart-strings and has personal meaning to us because our mother was a volunteer with the association,” Romsa says. “Each year we assist with the event and try to make it memorable to those attending, and work overtime to do it. It’s all about the kids.”

A bright future

Romsa says they’re seeing an increase in events this season and that corporate events have been slowly coming back after the economic slowdown because Jackson Hole is a highly sought-after destination. “Brides and grooms (or their parents) are also spending more on weddings this year as the national economy picks up steam,” Romsa says. “The event industry has a great future in our community right now.”