At Many Party Rental Companies, It’s Too Late for Y2K Reservations

With rental companies reporting shortages of dance floors, tents and heaters, it looks as if New Year’s Eve partyers may have to dance in the grass--and keep moving to stay warm.

“We’re out of heaters, we’re out of dance floors and we’re getting low on canopies and tents,” said Richard Taylor, general manager of an Abbey Event Services rental store in Santa Ana. Dishes, flatware and glassware also are at a premium, he said.

Across the nation, rental companies are facing the same shortages for year 2000 parties that plague the former Abbey Rents, based in Rancho Dominguez.

“We’ve got every tent, every chair, every dance floor, every ballroom chair, every champagne flute in this place rented--and have had it rented for several months,” said Frank Wilson, senior vice president of Frank Wilson’s Tents and Events in Augusta, Ga.

Normally, he might borrow from other businesses, Wilson said. But this year? Forget it.

“I can’t pull from Columbus, I can’t pull from Atlanta, because they’ve got the same problems I have,” he said.

The Y2K party shortages vary, with the greater demand in larger cities, said Maun Petersen, whose Diamond Rental and Sales in Salt Lake City also has run out of dance floors.

“Things are going fast,” he said. “Particularly in the larger metropolitan areas--such as New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle--rental people seem to be pretty much booked up solid. In the smaller cities, it doesn’t seem to be as tight.”