The RV Dealer Open House, self-described as "The Largest RV Dealer Show on Earth," took place on September 23rd through September 26th right at the center of the RV universe in Elkhart, Indiana. Thousands of RVs were on display at the event. The RV Dealer Show might very well be the biggest show on earth, especially with the top notch entertainment this year. On Tuesday, September 24th, country superstar Keith Urban performed at the event and on the next night, the classic rock band Styx entertained manufacturers and suppliers. The purpose of the show was to act as a sort of meetup for manufacturers, dealers and suppliers. The hope with all the entertainment and the massive size of the event was that billions of dollars of business will be done.
So how did some of the companies fair? The Buzz talked to a couple of companies to get their perspectives into the event.
Paul Wipf is the Vice President of TrailManor based out of South Dakota. TrailManor is a manufacturer of hard-shell popup campers, which expand in extremely innovative ways, both up and out. The company was originally founded in 1983, but was sold after the originally owner encountered health issues, and then was sold again in 2017 to a Hutterite Colony in South Dakota. This was their first time at the show.
"The first day or so, we were pretty slow, but things really picked up Wednesday and Thursday," Wipf says, "What I did notice is that the established dealers were getting a lot of traffic, which makes sense." Wipf explains that he is excited by a few of the potential business relationships established at the event. "We found a dealer that has about 4 locations we are planning to work with," he says.
Lucky Dutchmen RV representative earns $400 in cash while attending Open House [Photo/ RV Hall of Fame]
He also found a few suppliers that plan to make his product line better and more cost effective. "We found a sink company that makes better quality sinks less expensive than we have in the units right now so that is great news," Wipf says. "We are also testing out a different in-unit air conditioner company that we met at the show."
Another small manufacturer who attended the show was Holiday House RV. Holiday House is a brand that has been around for decades and has been owned by various companies. The most iconic features of the trailers are the wrap around front windows and the vintage body. It is now owned by a company that has "the sole intent of building RV’s and honoring the tradition, style and allure associated with the Holiday House brand," according to the website. The company builds these iconic trailers from the ground up; they are all-aluminum and will not rust.
"We honestly didn't expect much," says Holiday House RV representative Mark Lucas, "But we were much busier than expected Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday."
Lucas says they also felt the effect of the Keith Urban concert in a positive way. "There was kind of a traffic jam right near our spot so we got a lot of onlookers coming through just because they were stuck," laughs Lucas. "Overall, we were very happy with the event. This was our first time there as a manufacturer on our own."
Along with the Dealers show, there was an equally impressive Suppliers show in a 17,000 square foot space in the RV Hall of Fame Building. "We had 80 suppliers in 110 booths," says President of the RV Hall of Fame, Darryl Searer, "From all accounts, it went excellent. Not only do all the suppliers want to come back, they all asked for their same spot that they were in, which means there wasn't a bad place to be in the house."
Searer says they had some fun during the business deals that were going on between suppliers, dealers and manufacturers. On Monday-Wednesday, every half an hour they would give out two $100 bills to people attending and participating in the show and on the last day, Thursday, they gave out $400 every half an hour.
"Thor had about 500 units in the show," says Searer, "And they were all smiling and very happy. Because of the success of the event, but also because this year we had 1 million square feet of blacktop to put their campers on instead of mulch or dirt."
Only time will tell if the extravagant event created positive connections for all the participants. But from what has been said thus far, it seems to be on the right track.