RV/MH Hall of Fame’s Convention Center Nears Completion – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
ELKHART, Ind. – Plans call for the RV/MH Hall of Fame’s largest expansion project to date, a new 36,000-square-foot Convention Center in Elkhart, Ind., to be completed in time to host its first key public event – the “Hall of Heroes Comic Con” with an estimated crowd of 12,000 to 15,000 people – by March 2-3.
And Darryl Searer, president of the Hall of Fame (HOF), and Executive Vice President Ryan Szklarek told RVB on a visit to the facility this week (Dec. 27) how well things have been going as the new addition takes shape with four additional events already booked for next year.
As a matter of fact, they report, the Convention Center’s exterior is complete and the “Phase 2” interior finishing touches will be all but done by Goshen, Ind.-based CDR Construction for Comic Con inside the large clear-span addition to the main HOF facility, on which construction began in June.
“Yes,” said Searer, “it’s part of the existing building. And it completes our plan that we did back in 2016. We did the ‘Vision of the Future’ for the 40-acre plot that the Hall of Fame is located on. This is the last piece of that puzzle. First came the new manufactured housing museum, which has been done for a little over a year now. That completed both museums, the RV on the west side and the MH on the east side, and now this fills in the corner so to speak.”
One of the main objectives the Convention Center achieves, said Searer, is to make available more capacity for the emerging annual supplier show that the Hall of Fame has been developing for RV industry component suppliers held annually in late September and early October as part of the Elkhart RV Open House. The supplier show, spawned in part by the demise of the 50-year-old Louisville Show, has been occupying the HOF’s 18,000-square-foot Ingram Hall and spilling over into the HOF’s RV museum.
“So, now with the addition of the Convention Center’s 36,000 square feet,“ Searer explained, “we can take everybody that was in last year’s show and put them in the new building. However, what we’re finding is that more people want to participate in the show now and they want more space. So, now what’s happening is we will be sold out in the new 36,000 facility and we’re already expanding back into Ingram Hall for the 2024 show.”
Beyond all that is an enhanced event center for the area’s mainstream RV, MH and marine businesses, and Searer and Szklarek feel there’s other potential rental prospects in the area who previously might have utilized an Elkhart show locations but opted instead for sites in Fort Wayne, South Bend and elsewhere because they simply needed more space than the HOF’s existing 18,000-square-foot Ingram Hall and 21,000-square-foot Orthwein Pavilion had to offer.
That, they maintain, could really change – in Elkhart’s favor — as the HOF better competes for regional convention traffic across the board when the Convention Center is up and running. “Yes,” added Searer, “that’s what it does for the Hall of Fame. That will ensure for years to come that the Hall of Fame has a positive cash flow and that it’s going to be here forever so people can enjoy this place.”
“There seems to be a very large demand in this area and we have been losing events to other cities at a fairly substantial rate,” asserted Szklarek. “For instance, a lot of local-based companies have actually been going all the way to Fort Wayne because that’s the only facility in the area that can accommodate them. And we had one of those rental customers out to look at this (Convention Center) space and his jaw hit the floor. And I thought, ‘man, there are a lot of people that are going to benefit from this.’”
Looking ahead, the HOF has been looking at fundraising options with the assistance of a professional consultant and contacting potential donors to support its next wave of growth. Also in the works are scholarships for people who could work in the RV or manufactured housing industries – the long-term objective being the health and welfare of the entire Elkhart community.
“Filling up hotels, filling up restaurants, people buying gas and other things is a big part of our goal,” maintained Szklarek. “And we’re talking to people who are going to use it, who are involved with large conventions or with large events or shows. And making sure that when we do the next phase, that every single detail that they would need to make it as great as possible is being thought of. At the same time, we’re trying to create ambassadors for the project.”
