Chicago is Frank Sinatra’s kind of town, or at least that was how the song went many years ago. The Windy City, as it is affectionately called, has quite a history of being not only bustling with visitors and travelers for both pleasure and business but for many other things as well. It is also home to quite a few people since it is the third most populous city in the United States and the highest in the state. It is also the most populous city in the Midwest region.
A number of industries are situated here, with many having their headquarters in Chicago’s bustling business district. Because of the number of banks that are centered here, it is considered a major financial center for the entire world. Those many businesses plus other attractions bring in over fifty million people to the city and billions of dollars in revenue from travel to lodging and more.
This is the home of the most outdoor works of art anywhere in the world, which is another reason why Chicago is a popular destination for the creative minded. Sports fans are drawn to the city that was named “Best Sports City” by Sporting News for three years, including the most recent win of that title in 2010. Chicago is also one of only six cities to have ever had its teams win a championship title in each of the four major sports. The most recent was the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2015 win of the NHL’s Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks are an Original Six team—one of the six teams that remain from the start of the NHL and the first expansion of the league in 1967.
Finally, for the outdoors activity lover, there are beaches (31 of them), 570 municipal parks, and 50 nature areas. Chicago is also the home of the largest city-wide boating system. There is plenty to do here.
Event Planning 101: You Can Never Have Enough Porta Potties
The first rule of planning any event is that you can never have too much food or too many porta potties. If you have never considered portable toilets to be part of event planning, then you have never stood in line at the only two restrooms at an event before. Here is why there are never enough and why that is bad:
- The more food and drink that you offer to people, the more they will need a portable restroom at some point during your event. This is doubly true if the drinks are alcohol based, which tends to increase the number of times that a person needs to go to the bathroom.
- Each porta potty will have a set capacity for the number of people that it can safely handle in a sanitary manner. That means that you will need an estimate of the number of people that will be there and then divide that by the capacity potential of the porta potty.
- Some events have wild fluctuations in numbers from year to year, which may be related to weather, while others are consistently very big or very small. It is always better to err on the side of caution and use the higher number for events than to see dips and dives.
- Remember that there are often unforeseeable events like a breakage or other issue with porta potties. If you have a broken unit, will the others be able to handle the strain without causing a domino effect?
A good porta potty rental company can help you to choose the right number of units and will also help with things like location and scheduling the right delivery time. A good company will also offer a free estimate for the price and will explain everything that is included in that quoted price: delivery, pickup, the units themselves, and supplies while on site. They will also explain what happens if you have a failure of one of the units during your rental period. You do not want to have any types of surprises with a portable restroom during the middle of a major event, no matter what the event might be.
Legal Obligations and Fine Print
Before you finalize the contract, make sure that you have asked every question that you can think of. Make sure that you are legally allowed to have porta potties at your event, and determine whether you will need a permit to place them on the site. And finally, make sure that you are dealing with someone who is licensed to perform these services in your city.