Camp Winnebago Owner Rally Draws 550 Units to Forest City – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
FOREST CITY, Iowa – Winnebago Industries Inc. last year changed the name of its annual RV owners rally from its traditional “Grand National Rally” to “Camp Winnebago” just to keep up with the times.
But that didn’t mean that the popular 55-year-old event itself, which drew some 550 coaches July 14-18 to the company’s original home facilities in Forest City, Iowa, was really any less fun and exciting for the coach owners involved, according to Experiential Marketing & Brand Partnership Manager Emalee Frase.
In fact, things went exceedingly well for the owners of towable and motorized recreational vehicles manufactured by Winnebago, which still has production facilities in Forest City in northern Iowa with its corporate headquarters currently based up north in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
“This year went amazing,” she said. “We had, like I said, about 550 coaches. And between vendors, employees and attendees we had about 1,400 people on the ground during the event week. And while it was hot during the beginning of the week, it soon cooled off and we just had a beautiful week including about 10 to 15 new activities that we added into the event schedule this year. So overall, it was really, really successful.”
Among the activities available to coach owners, who can get service work done during the rally and are encouraged to explore area towns like Clear Lake and Mason City in the vicinity of Forest City, a rather famous small community given Winnebago’s tenure there since 1958 when businessman John K. Hanson decided to bring Modernistic Industries from California to town to start a local travel trailer factory.
Also on tap in the days right before the rally, Frase noted, were activities surrounding Forest City’s Puckerbrush Days.
While the rally itself is still working its way back from a one-year pandemic hiatus, she added, this year’s event included a big “Campfire Jamboree” cookout. “A local Boy Scout troop came in and served hamburgers and hot dogs to our attendees and we had live music,” she added. “In the process, they took donations for their troop and raised $3,000, which was fantastic. We played music bingo, which is just a fun variation for the traditional bingo.
“And we brought in the Humane Society of Northern Iowa,” Frase told RVB. “They actually came in and did an adopt event, and we were able to raise $2,000 for them during that activity. We had music every single day. We actually did a big two-hour activation based on the “Family Feud” TV show during the event.
“And then we still had all the goodness, like our daily happy hours that included music and other things. So, bottom line, we’ve maintained a lot of the things that our attendees always loved while also finding new ways to add in new fun.”
Having said that, we’re told, Winnebago’s management team members did manage to mix and mingle at times with attendees, driving golf cart taxis and handing out donuts to attendees over morning coffee at “Waking Up with Winnebago” gatherings among other things.
