SOOKIE: When are you going to tent?
LORELAI: Next week.
A treatment for drywood termite infestation is to place a tent over the house and fumigate it so that the poison gas can reach every area of the house. It is a measure kept for extreme situations when the termite infestation is severe, widespread, and in areas where normal methods cannot reach.
It can take half a day or up to a week to complete, and the house will need to be vacated, then cleared and aerated afterwards. It is a big inconvenient undertaking, and an expensive one – Lorelai is spending $2000 on her fumigation. She refers to it as a “circus tent”, making this another circus reference.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 