RV Expo comes to Calgary

The 48th annual Calgary RV Expo & Sale rolled through Stampede Park Jan. 26-29. With the slow economy show organizers were hoping people will spend their vacations a little closer to home this year.
“We think that everybody is going to spend more time in Alberta with their units,” said Show Manager Dan Merkowsky.
Following the trends of recent years, he was expecting show numbers to be down this year.
“Usually we get around 25,000 people to it,” he said, “we do think that this year we’ll see less people coming out.”
Merkowsky said that they had about 400 different RVs at the show spanning all shapes and sizes available.
In addition to the actual RV people had a chance to talk with experts about care and storage of their campers as well as trade stories about their favourite locations to go camping.
“Kananaskis Country is always the most incredible place,” he said.
With Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations this year passes to National parks are free.
Merkowsky has heard that many of the sites in National parks, in Alberta at least, are already booked up for the summer.
The draw of RVing is the combination of the comfort found in hotels with the closeness to nature in camping.
“It’s just an opportunity to just turn off technology and get away,” he said, “just look at the stars and watch the fire and all that great stuff.”
For anyone who has spent a night cold and wet in a leaky tent, Merkowsky highly recommends RVing.
“The key for when you go from camping to RVing is that you’re dry,” he said, “you’re off the ground and you’re dry and usually have a nice bed to stay in.”
He had some advice for people thinking about making the leap into RVing this summer.
The first thing to do is find out how much one’s vehicle can tow.
“They don’t want to go buying a great big long RV that they have to buy a new truck for,” he said.
There is also winter storage to consider when buying.
He also recommends people carefully consider how big a unit they are comfortable driving or towing before they buy.
For people buying their first RV, Merkowsky recommends that they attend an education session.
“We offer an RV learning program out at Buffalo Lake,” he said.
The weekend long seminars introduce people to RVing.
“A great opportunity for people to get more familiar with their RV and to meet some of the RV family,” said Merkowsky.
Other than this, getting into RVing is about getting comfortable with the unit and getting out to enjoy nature.
“The lifestyle itself is so much fun,” he said.