We are a family-owned rental outfit in Albany, and Big Lake is 53 miles up the road. Folding chairs and banquet tables loaded on a trailer, quoted for the whole weekend. Tents and bounce houses too. Tow it yourself or let us bring it.
Big Lake is about 53 miles out from Albany — roughly 70 minutes each way, near the edge of where we run. At 53 miles, towing it yourself is the economical call if you have the vehicle for it. If you do not, we will quote the drive honestly.
With about 12,405 residents, Big Lake is big enough to have real venues and a steady run of events, but small enough that your party is not a rounding error to whoever takes the booking. Big Lake has enough going on that most weekends somebody is setting up folding chairs somewhere. We would rather it was ours than six borrowed sets.
We cover Big Lake as part of a run through Sherburne County that also takes in Monticello, Becker and Otsego, so it is rare that we are making a trip out here for one booking. One number, agreed on the phone, unchanged when you return it. We have never seen a reason to complicate it. If your weekend is already taken we will say so straight away, not after you have planned around us.
A Central Minnesota graduation open house is not a sit-down dinner. People arrive in waves across four or five hours, stay forty minutes, and leave. That means you do not need a chair for every guest on the list — you need a chair for everyone who happens to overlap.
For most Big Lake open houses that works out to somewhere between a third and a half of your total invite list. A full trailer covers an open house with several hundred people through the door, which is more than almost any single Big Lake graduation will see.
And you do not have to get the number right, because you are not renting by the chair. The trailer comes loaded for one flat price whether you use half of it or all of it, and if you need more than it holds we can add to it. See pricing →
Big Lake Public Schools graduation lands in the same few weeks as every other district around here, and that is the crunch. The last two weekends of May and the first two of June are the ones that go first — often months ahead. If your Big Lake open house is on one of those dates, get the trailer on the calendar before you order announcements, not after.
If we are already booked for your weekend we will tell you immediately rather than stringing you along, and we will usually know someone who can help.
One quote for the weekend covers the loaded trailer — folding chairs and banquet tables — as one bundle, however many you actually use. A $200 booking deposit reserves the date and comes off the total. Delivery to Big Lake is separate and quoted by distance — delivery quoted by distance applies here.
Fewer than your invite list. Guests come and go across the afternoon, so plan seating for the peak overlap — usually a third to a half of the total. A full trailer covers an open house with 350 to 500 people through the door.
As early as you can. Late May and early June weekends are the busiest of our year and they book months out. Once you know the date, call — a $200 booking deposit reserves it, and it comes off your total.
About 53 miles from Albany, roughly a 70-minute drive. It is an easy haul if you are towing it yourself.
A 2-5/16 inch ball and a vehicle rated to tow an enclosed trailer — most half-ton pickups and full-size SUVs handle it without any trouble. If you are unsure whether your vehicle is up to it, tell us what you drive in the booking form.
Yes. Delivery quoted by distance applies to Big Lake, which is 53 miles from Albany.
Usually yes. Midweek is quieter for us than Saturdays, so extending into a Monday or picking up on a Thursday is often easier than people expect. Ask in the booking form.
It is a normal enclosed trailer. If you have pulled a boat or a skid loader trailer you will be fine. If you have not, most people would rather we deliver, and that is a fair call.
For a whole weekend, we think so, and it is the billing model rather than a discount: companies that price per chair per day multiply by the count and again by the days. We quote the trailer once, for the weekend. Get a quote from anyone else and compare the weekend total, not the daily rate — that is where the difference shows up.
We serve the whole stretch around Big Lake — here are the closest towns and the county page.
Tell us the date and the headcount. We will confirm whether it is open, usually the same day.
Weekends book first, especially May and June. Send us the date and your headcount and we will come straight back to you on whether it is open.