The group will be in Sunken Gardens during Colony Days festivities

ATASCADERO — Tent City is returning as part of the Colony Days festivities this year on Saturday, Oct. 5. The community made out of canvas tents will be erected in Sunken Gardens and will lend a hand in showing residents and neighbors of Atascadero what it was like to live in 1916 within the city’s Tent City. This year, the director of Tent City is asking the community for help putting on the deep dive into history.  

“What Tent City is, I guess a shortcut way to describe it is it’s sort of like a renaissance fair,” said Tent City Director Dianne Greenaway. “This is recreating a time in Atascadero, the first two years of Atascadero, where people actuallylived in tents. There was a tent community set up by E.G. Lewis and Co. There were resident tents. There were other tents. There was a diner, there was a movie tent, there was a theater tent, there were things like that.” 

Greenaway told Atascadero News that Tent City is looking for people to help with setting up all the tents they use to recreate early Atascadero and then taking them down after the event is over.

“Some of the tents are big tents, and they do require, you know, half dozen, eight, 10 people to help with that. Both all the setting up and the taking down,” added Greenaway. “Everything has to be carted from the curb on over [to Sunken Gardens], and for some [people], that’s a lot of stuff.”

People who are interested in helping with setup and takedown are encouraged to bring their own wagons and dollies if they have them to help haul the heavy items used to set up Tent City to its full glory.

“We’re unique in that it’s uniquely Atascadero, and it’s not something that other people are already doing,” Greenaway said. “It’s a lot more labor intensive and kind of a specific kind of interest and feeling like it would fun to bring a bit of Atascadero’s early history to visitors.”

It is most likely that set up for Tent City will start on Thursday, Oct. 3, with tent move-ins and will continue on Friday, Oct. 4, which will be the move-in date for all decorations that go inside the tents. The tents being fully set up with residents delving into characters from 1916 make it a special experience. The official date of Colony Days, including Tent City, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 5. As of right now, take down has not been set in stone.

The historic event is also looking for people who would love to pretend to be Atascadero residents from 1916 by dressing up in period costumes and interacting with people from 2024 in character.

“We need people to be families that have come to Tent City,” Greenaway said. “I think we might even have a couple of spare tents, and they can furnish them with cots and a dresser, and they can have food there and create [their own] story. We would love to have that added.” 

Right now, the Tent City crew has two or three canvas tents that are not currently being used. Anyone who wants to become a part of Tent City this year can either use one of those tents for the duration of the weekend, or if they want to own the tent full time, they can purchase one from Colony Days. 

Tent City is also looking for sponsors so they can grow their program and bring even more 1916 fun to the crowds that come out to the Atascadero streets for the Colony Days Parade. They’re also looking for a home to store all of their classic laundry equipment, including wash tubs that are used in their laundry tent every year. The items would need to be housed full-time throughout the year.

For more information, to volunteer for Tent City, or to become a sponsor, email atascaderocolonydays@gmail.org.

Featured Image: Volunteers dressed as Tent City “residents” take part in an awards ceremony during a past Colony Days event in Atascadero. File Photo