Fairs, festivals, concerts and sporting events are often your big summer moneymakers. A challenge for every PRO running a special-events division is balancing staff requirements with unique needs of event planners, especially when the special event requires 500 restrooms or covers a 600-mile placement zone. 

Many stories about the extraordinary special events you provide portable sanitation services for have covered the pages of PRO. From the volume of restrooms required and the number of eventgoers to the sheer size of an event, we’ve picked the top five biggest — and best — special events you’ve covered over the last few years. 

5. On the run. Wisconsin-based Arnold’s Environmental gives the expression “a run for its money” a whole new meaning. Serving RAGNAR team relay races that span 200 miles with 12-person teams, Arnold's provides a whopping 360 single restrooms, four ADA-accessible units, and requires four trucks and four trailers.

“As far as the number of restrooms goes, it’s our biggest special event of the year,” says Operations Manager Mike Steidtmann.

The logistics are daunting. One of the biggest challenges involves figuring out the most efficient way to deliver and pick up the restrooms at the 37 different exchange sites, where runners switch off between relay legs. The start and finish lines demand the most units, while the other stops each require anywhere from seven to 17 units.

“It’s basically all hands on deck,” Steidtmann says. “We don’t clean any septic tanks that weekend.”

Learn more about how Arnold’s handles the 200-mile relay race.

4. Trash to treasures. Think 200 miles is a lot? We can beat that. Headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee, Tommy’s Port-A-Toilet services the 127 Corridor Sale, billed as the world’s longest yard sale. The 675-mile route covers five states and includes more than 400 vendors, all along Highway 127.

Owner Tommy Breeding contracts with vendors to provide portable restrooms. “I explain that not only does it help the travelers, but it gives the vendors a place to go, and it’s the right thing to do,” he says. “It’s good for business because wherever they set them up, that’s where the people would be. Otherwise they won’t shop, they’ll just leave.”

For the 2010 event, he contracted with about 50 individual property owners between Jamestown, 35 miles to the north, and Pikeville, 30 miles to the south, who set up vending areas on their properties.

In 2010, Tommy’s placed 75 units in roughly 50 locations, mostly farm fields turned vending areas.

Read on to see how Tommy’s operates a 675-mile route.

3. Hopped up. Schnitzel, sauerbraten and bratwurst are among the popular alcohol-absorbing fare that accompanies 700 kegs of free-flowing imported German and domestic beer at one of the biggest Oktoberfest celebrations in the U.S., in Cape Coral, Florida. All that ale demands extra restrooms.

Robin Youmas, owner of Allied Portables LLC, provides a wide variety of portable sanitation equipment to more than 34,000 visitors who enjoy food, dancing and nonstop music on three stages. There is also a carnival, arts and crafts booths, and a 5K run.

The company supplied 50 brand-new restrooms, five ADA-compliant units and six hand-wash stations, all delivered on three homemade 14-unit hauling trailers. They also brought in two men’s rooms, and a two-stall restroom trailer for the women.

Learn how Allied Portables helps festivalgoers moderate their alcohol intake.

2. One contractor, four states. DJ’s Portables is no stranger to the hard work associated with a huge special-event service area. The company provides restrooms for the 26,000-square-mile Navajo Nation located in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico — the largest Native American land mass.

DJ’s has over 125 individual residential contracts for units with weekly service. The company also provides restroom rentals for various agencies, construction projects and government jobs.

With such a vast service area, you’d think DJ’s would have 100 employees. Wrong. One service technician single-handedly takes care of all routes. Francisco Segovia may drive as far as 170 miles one-way to clean a single unit, and puts approximately 3,000 miles a week on the truck.

Find out how DJ’s Portables stays on track with one route driver.

1. Let’s celebrate! A worldwide celebration calls for world-renowned portable sanitation service. ECOTEC Tecnologia Ecologica Ltda., headquartered in Americana, Brazil, in the state of São Paulo, provides restrooms rentals for Carnival, the company’s largest event. That’s not all — ECOTEC is only one of 10 restroom contractors for the event.

Carnival is celebrated all over the world, but nowhere more enthusiastically than in Brazil. The entire country shuts down for the festival so its 200 million residents can have a last fling before facing the more solemn days of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter.

“The only people who work are those that supply the events,” says ECOTEC founder Roberto Zeitlin.

All of the company’s units not tied up on construction sites are deployed to Rio and 23 cities in São Paulo state – 600 standard units, 28 wheelchair-accessible units and 16 hand-wash stations.

Learn about the logistics of jostling restrooms for 200 million people.

Do you have a special event that beats out the rest? Post a comment below or email editor@promonthly.com.