OEMs Confirm 2025 Elkhart RV Open House is Sept. 22-25 – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The “2025 Elkhart RV Open House,” one of the North American RV industry’s top annual trade shows, is scheduled for Monday through Thursday, Sept. 22-25, in and around northern Indiana’s RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind., according to THOR Industries Inc. President & CEO Bob Martin and Forest River Inc. CEO Doug Gaeddert.
And while it’s way too early for either of those major RV builders to provide details about their companies’ respective plans for this year’s Open House, both companies – two of the continent’s largest RV builders – will be exhibiting products at the same locations as they have in recent years with Forest River again stationed at its East to West division’s production facilities on the southwest side of Elkhart and THOR’s varied divisional displays again located close to the Hall of Fame.
And, RVB has learned, the other member of the industry’s “Big Three” volume RV builders, Minnesota-based Winnebago Industries Inc. and its Grand Design RV Inc. and Newmar Corp. subsidiaries, are also returning to their same Open House locations with Winnebago-branded products again on display at the Elcona Country Club just east of Elkhart.
The Open House actually dates back to 2009 when Forest River, a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary, first launched a private dealer “Expo” as the U.S. economy and the RV industry were emerging from a trying recession with a private dealer gathering held at Forest River’s west-side Elkhart headquarters.
Over the next few years, as the story goes, the Open House evolved from Forest River’s own Expo – a name Forest River still utilizes – into an all-industry event including other competitive OEMs plus dealers from coast to coast as well as exhibiting suppliers – much like RVIA’s traditional, 50-year-old “Louisville Show” that was dropped in 2017.
The supplier exhibits are mainly located in the HOF’s modern 36,000-square-foot, east wing convention facility with additional specialty areas in the Champion Hall and Ingram Hall, both of which have already been sold out for this year’s show, reports HOF Executive Vice President Ryan Szklarek, who says he’s assumed oversight of the supplier show following the recent retirement of former President Darryl Searer, who was succeeded as president in April by military veteran Daryll A. Milnikel.
The Open House, in turn, has maintained a truly unique role as a freewheeling event that has no owners, directors or overall show management with the exception of the HOF’s emerging “2025 Hall of Fame Supplier Show” held inside the Hall where an increasing number of suppliers show their wares.
Szklarek, for his part, says this year’s supplier show is filling up.
“At this point it looks like the supplier show is once again going to get very close to selling out if not selling all the way out,” he told RVB. “We’re about 15% to 20% ahead of where we were last year as far as bookings at this point. And we’ve got a lot of inquiries that are outstanding that we’re hoping to lock down. And at this point I would say we’re close to about 75% sold out, which is, like I said, well ahead of last year.”
And last year’s supplier show, he added, amounted to record square footage. “Well, every year so far has been a record over the previous year because we’re developing the show and we keep finding creative ways to add booth space,” he said. “But I think the layout that we have right now is going to stick. And, yes, last year was the record. This year is going to be a record above that.”
Behind that growth, he maintained, is a tendency for loyalty among suppliers despite the general unpredictability of the current marketplace. “Correct,” he noted, “I feel like the suppliers are loyal. I’ve heard stories about the suppliers’ role at the Louisville Show for over 50 years. And whether the industry was up or down, the suppliers were always loyal and stuck it out. And even though they may have grumbled, they still always showed. And, yeah, we’re seeing the exact same experience here.”
