Big Top Rentals had its biggest year for weddings in the past year, pulling in $140,000.
Submitted photos
EXETER — Farrells Big Top Rentals is celebrating its 40th year in business.
It has grown from having just one tent in 1983 to a business offering more than 300 tents and an extensive inventory of tables, chairs, lighting, décor, dance floors and staging.
The business specializes in weddings, corporate events, college/university events, residential events and festivals.
Mark, Susan, and their son Mark are all hands on in the operation of the business. This year, their daughter, Maggie, along with her husband, Jason, are merging her business, Maggpie Rentals, that offers full line of lounge/seating furniture options, into Big Top to offer more options for all types of events.
This year, the business donated the tents for the West Pittston Cherry Blossom Festival, as a way to celebrate its 40th anniversary and to support the community. The donation totals over $7,000.
The business also donated tents in 2012, following the flood of 2011.
“We’re from West Pittston,” Mark Farrell said. “We knew we could help out, so we did.”
The business, which operates yearround, has eight full-time employees and three part-time high school students.
“We like to start the high school students and hopefully, when they go to college, you get them for four or five years after they’ve learned what they’re doing,” Mark Farrell said.
Farrell said the bulk of business comes from weddings and corporate events, including colleges and universities.
“We do do backyard parties, but very few of them,” he said.
The business has more than 120 corporate accounts.
“Our strength is our weakness,” he said. “It’s nothing for a corporate customer to call last minute on Thursday for a big delivery on Friday.”
Farrell said the business goes on rain or shine.
“The only time we stop working is thunder and lightning,” he said. “If it got to go, it got to go.”
Tents have become more refined and bigger since the business began 40 years ago.
“We can cover a football field in one shot,” Farrell said, giving the example of the Mohegan Beer Festival in which the company provides a tent, 100 feet by 300 feet.
“We own two of those,” Farrell said. “They’re in very high demand. We’re the only business within 100 miles to have that big of a tent.”
Farrell started the company after working at UPS right after high school.
He also drove a beer truck for a local beer distributor.
“Delivering to the local picnics, I saw the tents,” he said. “I knew I could do a better job.”
Over the years, with advice from their children, the Farrells took the business upscale.
“Our children helped us add elegance,” he said.
Last year, the company held its biggest wedding ever, which totaled $140,000.
“In the past six or seven years, weddings are massive,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a cookie cutter wedding, now. Every bride now has an idea of what they want their wedding to be. We’re very good at making it special.”
The company looks forward to many more years in business, serving the community as a staple in the Greater Pittston area and beyond.
