Now in its second year, running concurrently with Elkhart Open House Week, the Hall of Fame Suppliers Show is sold out, according to Darryl Searer, president of the RV/MH Hall of Fame.
“There are 127 suppliers and they purchased 170 booths – and that was all we had available,” Searer said, adding that 142 of the booths are inside a hall and the other 28 are outside.
Some of the suppliers outside will have RVs on-hand to demo their products, he said.
This year’s Open House Week is scheduled for Sept. 27 – 30, returning after a year’s hiatus because of COVID-19. The Suppliers Show was cancelled last year as well. 2019 was the first year the Hall of Fame hosted its Suppliers Show.
Searer said that in 2019, 150 OEM personnel and nearly 1,000 dealers passed through the Suppliers Show.
Located at the Hall of Fame – where THOR will set up camp with its massive RV display for Open House Week – the Hall of Fame and museum are going to be open extra hours to accommodate any dealers or others who may be coming to Elkhart, Ind., from elsewhere and want to soak in a little RV history.
Hours for the Suppliers Show are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, with that half-day dedicated to the OEM representatives who want to come.
“Here, because the suppliers are all in one big building, in one area – and 80 percent of all the RVs are made within a 50-mile radius of Elkhart – all of these purchasing agents and product managers and designers and engineers, they can come by the Hall of Fame, on the way to work, at 9 o’clock, and they can spend a half a day and still go to work,” Searer said. “It’s convenient for the suppliers to be able to get to be here. They not only get to see dealers, but they get to see people from the OEM companies as well. And most suppliers do business with both – the aftermarket and the OEMs.”
