Heather Blankenship bought a Tennessee campground out of bankruptcy in 2011, and joined the Jellystone Campground network earlier this year. Bear Cove Village in Pigeon Forge became Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park - Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg in March of 2018. Now this busy 33 year old mother of three is ready to step onto the national camping stage. She’s running for National Board of the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds (ARVC) as the representative for Region 4, which includes campgrounds in North and South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee.
Heather decided to run after numerous visits to state conference meetings across the region. “I found that quite a few members don’t really understand what the benefits are of belonging to ARVC,” she says. “I’d like to work on developing better communication about benefits and working with the organization’s vendors.”
Blankenship says she’s been impressed by the energy and new ideas she’s encountered at the various state conferences. “Meeting people face-to-face makes communication so much easier,” she says. “I don’t think you can beat physically going to see people as a way to find out their concerns.”
Another area that Blankenship would like to see improved is ARVC’s legislative advocacy. “We have 10 to 15 representatives who go to Washington to get our legislative initiatives in front of the right people,” she says. “They take over a hundred different meetings. It’s a huge job. We need to get all our campground members more involved to educate the legislature on our industry.”
“Heather and the Yogi Bear mascot at her campground Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg.”
MobileRVing.com caught up with Heather at the Florida ARVC 2018 annual conference, held May 8-10 in Daytona Beach Shores. She was impressed by the meeting’s record attendance. “The combined Florida and Alabama association has a record number of campgrounds, over 400,” she says.
Blankenship got into the camping world back in 2011 when she bought the former Bear Cove Village and began to upgrade it for today’s modern campers. “I was a finance manager on vacation, driving across country in a camper,” she recalls. “Like so many people, I thought running a campground would be an easy job. How hard can this be?”
She says she soon found out how much effort goes into running a campground, as she brought Bear Cove Village into the 21st century with upgraded hookups, WiFi, concrete pads, pools and other amenities campers today are looking for. This spring, Bear Cove joined the Jellystone Park network, adding additional themed activities and facilities, including glamping tents and RV sites with full patios. Yogi Bear himself will deliver milk and cookies to your campsite.
Heather says she’s more than happy with her first Jellystone camping season in Tennessee. “April was up nearly 30% over last year,” she says. Good Sam recently raised the campground’s rating to 10-10-9.5.
Blankenship has a business degree from Western Illinois University, with a focus on supply chain management, and is working on her MBA. She also completed a certificate in outdoor hospitality management from ARVC’s Outdoor Hospitality Education Program. She’s a former member of the Tennessee ARVC board, and currently co-chairs ARVC’s Young Professional Committee.
“Heather Blankenship with her two children.”
Heather says she is running for the Region 4 position on the national board to give members more options. “Most of our regional candidates run unopposed. I’d like to give our members a choice.”
If elected, Blankenship hopes to address three areas of concern, she tells MobileRVing. “First, I’ll make sure we are getting the maximum benefit from our associated vendors. Second, I’ll insure our legislative issues are being heard by the right people. Third, I want to make sure that we’re doing the right things to introduce our industry to the next generation of campers.”
The third issue is of particular concern, she says. “KOA’s annual report found that 40% of our customers are millenials and that number is growing fast. It’s important that we put emphasis on engaging the next generation, both of customers and of employees.”
Each member park of ARVC gets one vote in the regional elections, either cast at the national convention or by mail in advance. Heather Blankenship will find out if she’s the new Region 4 representative at ARVC’s 2018 Outdoor Conference and Hospitality Expo, scheduled for November 5-8 in Oklahoma City. Let's give her some good faith and support!