RE: Camper/RV Shows

[springer02]

 
I know I asked about this on the old board but I forgot what you all told me.....
 
 Is there a camper/RV show in the Richmond and/or Roanoke area in the spring?  Are they generally worth going to or are they more for the " big rigs" ?
 
 Thanks in advance!
 
 Tena[]

[Miller Tyme]

 springer02
springer02-
 Can t tell ya about the Roanoke area, but here in Wisconsin there are 2 shows-Green Bay and Milwaukee.
 Yes, they do cater mostly to the big rigs-simple reasons, harder to sell, but better profit margin. Pop-ups usually are squirreled away in the corners. Most shows will offer 0% financing for X months, and so on. Many times they will have raffles or give-aways, or special deals on camping accessories.
 Good luck in your search![8D]

[CampNfan]

 springer02
Tena,
 Yes there is a big show in Richmond, there is one in Chantilly Va. at the capital expo center in Feb. too. I have gone to several of these shows. They are fun But they are to sell Campers of all sizes from the smallest of Popups to the half a million dollar rigs. I have kind of started getting board with them the past year or so. I wish they would sell or have more accessories at these shows but they don t. They have lots of Campers and maybe a few campground spokesmen there, that s about it. If you like looking thru all the new campers it is fun.

[GeneF]

 springer02
Springer
 
 
 Try this link:
 
 http://www.rvia.org/RVshows/index.cfm?mode=2
 
 February 7-9, 2003
 18th Annual Richmond Camping & RV Expo
 Richmond Raceway Complex
 Richmond , VA
 

[tlhdoc]

 springer02
Gene thanks for the link.  I lost all of my links when my computer crashed and this was one that I lost.[]

[iwantapopup]

 springer02
We ve gone to 2 shows and there is another one coming in about 2 weeks that we plan on going to.  The first show was a small one in IL and only had maybe 4 r 5 pop-ups, so it was disappointing but we still had fun.
 
 The second was huge (in my opinion) in St. Louis at a mall and they had lots of pop-ups along with everything else to look at.  We like to see them all.  We look at the big rigs and dream of retiring and check out the pop-ups to see the new designs, etc.
 
 They did seem to offer some great deals.  Especially the fall show, I think maybe to get rid of the 2002 models?
 
 

[Camping Coxes]

 springer02
We have been to two so-called RV shows and there were no pop-ups.  The first one I called the number listed in the ad and was told that there would be all classes of camping trailers, including pop-ups.  We headed out there, and there wasn t one pop-up.  Grrr.  Then the one this last weekend we got notice of via E-mail from a TrailManor dealer offering free tickets.  We called and got our tickets.  Jayco was door-prizing a pop-up, so we figured that meant there must be pop-ups that would be there.  We went, and the Jayco was the only pop-up in the place (other than the Trailmanors, which is kind of a horse of a different color).  I was mad!  Paid for parking, wasted my time.  And to boot, one of the " salesman"  shooed my kids out of two trailers they were looking at, while I stood by the door.  The first time I thought maybe he didn t realize they were chaperoned, the second time he was just rude because he had " real" customers looking.  It was all I could do to keep my composure and not tell the jerk off!  For the sake of not embarrassing my mild-mannered hubby, I kept my cool.
 
 Bottom line is, I m tired of the RV shows treating pop-ups as the forgotten stepchildren.  I bet if they did a survey, most RVers started with something smaller.  I ve looked at three used pop-ups recently that the sellers said they were jumping up to an RV after years of pop-up camping.  So why forget this crucial market!  Grrrrrr.   Manufacturers:  take note -- we re mad and we re not going to pay for admissions anymore to be shown RVs that most of America can t afford or handle!

[texacokat]

 springer02
We attended the Chicago Boat, RV & Outdoors show on Sat. at McCormick Place.  Tons o  boats on the first floor and the RVs were in the basement.  We didn t have a lot of time to look but saw quite a few 2003 PUs - Palomino, Coleman, Rockwood among others.  I was surprised there were that many, since it was a combination show.  I don t mind all the big rigs  cause it sure is fun to dream!  But when I asked DH which one he liked best, he said " Ours."  
 
 One thing we were disappointed is that there weren t many aftermarket vendors around.  (Maybe they were upstairs with the boats?).

[tlhdoc]

 springer02
I have only been to the Harrisburg PA show and it is huge.  They have all types of RV s there.

[Gone-Camping]

 springer02
I ll be going to the Richmond show on one of the dates, but not sure which one, probably on Saturday the 8th of Feb. I m also going to the the show in Va Beach at the Pavilion Convention Center end of this month (Sat Jan 25th)...
 

[Gamecock Camper]

 springer02
The RV Show at the Fairgrounds in Columbia, SC has all types of campers.  It is either the last weekend in January or the first weekend in February... I ll have to look to make sure that I don t miss anything.  Last year I had just bought my PU and got a good deal on an AAR.  This year I ll be looking for upgrades again as well as looking at the rigs that other people " camp"  in.

[rednekrubbrduck]

 springer02
There s usually 2 here in KC in the spring..the first one is the Outdoor show, which has some campers...and a couple of PU s, but is mainly boats and such..then it s the RV show..and they have all types of campers..including PU s.  Didn t go last year..but the year before the dealers brought a sampling of all their campers...including PU s, so there is hope yet.