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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
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Golden Village Palms Vintage Trailer Show
By John McCabe
Need an excuse to stay just a little longer in southern California? Well, you've got one now! For the fourth consecutive year, Golden Village Palms Resort, in Hemet, Southern California's largest luxury RV resort, will hold its Vintage Trailer and Car Show from April 26-29, 2018, just at the end of snowbird season.
Michael Carle, General Manager at Sunland RV Resorts, which owns Golden Village Palms, conceived the idea of the Vintage Trailer Show around 2012. He wanted to do something different to bring new people in to see what a beautiful luxury resort they had in Hemet. A fan of vintage trailers, he concluded that the resort would have a show during their peak season, offering an open house alongside the trailer show so that the public would have a great excuse to come in, browse and see what the resort offered. Carle traveled to multiple shows to get a feel for the need for such an event and to gauge what the reception would be.
"The biggest problem," explains Tracie Rodgers, events coordinator at Golden Village Palms, "is that many of the vintage trailer people were very set in their ways. To add another show to their schedule would be a significant change." The trick was to find an open weekend that wasn't competing with the other classic trailer shows and wasn't in the depth of the summer when temperatures exceed 35° nearly every day. While traveling to the shows, Carle made sure to get information from vintage trailer owners and clubs, so that he could alert them when Golden Village Palms was ready to roll out the antiques.
The first show brought out dozens of vintage trailers and vintage cars. However, as with any event, there were some kinks that first year. Rodgers explains they brought in bands, speakers, held meetings, and organized special events. As it turns out, the vintage trailer people, well, they couldn't have cared less! Their main priorities were to hang out, meet other vintage trailer people and chill around an open campfire. She describes them as "a subculture within the RV culture."
Although Golden Village Palms and Sunland RV Resorts have learned their lessons from that first event, some of them still sting. "The biggest problem was that we brought in local dignitaries to judge the best trailers." Unfortunately, those dignitaries weren't even RVers, and they knew nothing of what makes a vintage trailer a true classic. It didn't end well. In the future, they may bring back judging, either using true experts for judging or by offering a "people's choice" award. Even that, according to Rodgers, could be a problem, as the general public is more likely to just gawk at the shiny objects, rather than the best-maintained and best-restored trailers. Otherwise, the team expects to have no major changes for 2018's fourth annual Vintage Trailer Show.
One significant difference between the show at Golden Village Palms and those held in other location is the acceptance of re-issued trailers. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a modern replica of an original vintage trailer. Rodgers explained that she received many calls from these trailer owners to double check if they were allowed. They couldn't believe it, she said, because they aren't even allowed in the park at most other vintage shows. In order to prevent people from getting offended by each other, Golden Village Palms makes sure to give the re-issue people and their shiny new trailers a special area of their own.
Then there are the cars! Approximately 70 vintage vehicles showed up for the 2017 event, "much more than we expected," Tracie Rodgers admitted. The cars and the 95 vintage trailers, made the show fun for entire families. The combination of the background of the amazing beauty of Golden Village Palms resort, with a dog show, a Beach Boys tribute band playing live, BBQ and all the friendly and wonderful people, the event, which had had perfect weather for the second consecutive year, was utterly blissful. We are looking forward to the fourth annual event and hope to see you there!”
The resort staff has nothing but good things to say about their vintage RV guests, including "there is such a nice atmosphere created by their presence," and "they're a nice group to have around." I can say from personal experience that this is very true. Every time that we became involved in a conversation, the people were so nice that we had to force ourselves to leave so that we could cover more ground! This year, we plan to show up much earlier, but for now, we need to pass along last year's thoughts from Vernon, BC resident Mark Raymer, whose 1969 Avion C-11 was the coolest slide camper I've ever seen. "We are starting our way home today and will miss the sun and warmth." Well, Mark, hope you are back this year.
You may contact the Golden Village Palms at (877) 590-3971 or through their contact form located on www.goldenvillagepalms.com
Editor's Note: Click here if you'd like to watch a short video of last year's Vintage Trailer Show, presented by Golden Village Palms RV Resort.