Snapshot: Awning Paradise

Published On: January 1, 1970

Most everyone who has spent a lifetime manufacturing custom products can point to one stand-out project that was the highlight of their career. For Vern Schaefer, that project was manufacturing and installing awnings for the Virgin Grand Resort in the Virgin Islands. The project began as part of a remodeling project for a client who bought the Pineapple Beach Resort on St. Thomas. Glawe Awnings & Tents manufactured and installed more than 150 terra-cotta colored awnings for the resort—to match a piece of vegetation that was highlighted throughout the resort. “This was new for us. We had to manufacture everything here, truck it to Florida, ship it in containers to the Virgin Islands, get it through customs, load it up, get it to the site and then install it,” Vern says. “It was a lot to manage, but it all worked out and the client was pleased.”

Within three months, the client sold the property to The Sheraton Corp.—which used blue as its branded color. Sheraton hired Glawe to re-cover the awnings in blue—as well as manufacture and install awnings and a 40-by-40-foot entrance canopy for the property it bought on St. Thomas. “We then made more than 600 awnings for them between the two resorts,” Vern says. “I don’t remember working on anything that gave me more pleasure.”