The WNY RV Show is an annual multi-dealer event held at the Hamburg Fairgrounds. We are new to…read morecamping as of last summer, and the 2020 show was our first time attending the event. We went with our kiddos in tow (ages 9 and 12). Here's my lowdown:
** The show ran in mid-January for two weeks straight, making it easier to find a day on the calendar that worked for us to head down.
** Admission and parking are both free. Parking was easy, but a bit of a walk since the lots are big. They are gravel lots, so they can be muddy.
** There are hundreds of RVs set up, both outside and inside the large events center building. If the weather isn't ideal, seeing the outside units may require you to dodge raindrops/snowflakes. But there is no shortage to see inside, if you choose to opt out of outside perusing.
** The RVs are easy to explore, with rows and rows and rows all wide open to climb in and take a look. If it is a busy day, you may have to wait a minute or two to get into a unit, if there are already folks inside.
** In addition to RVs, the perimeter of the event center is lined with booths of campground representatives from several different regional private sites. We grabbed some brochures, and lots of free candy from those tables. :-)
** Of course tons of salesmen are around for both the RVs and the campgrounds, but nobody was overly aggressive, not with us anyway. We were just window shopping this year, and never felt any pressure to buy ASAP.
** If you are buying ASAP, there seemed to be lots of promotional pricing to snag something at a bargain. Many of the floor models were marked "sold", with the names of the new proud buyers. Of course, still do your homework before signing the bottom line. But since this is a multi-dealer event with competing RV sellers, the prices seemed pretty good.
** We are not interested in ginormo-mamba-jamba-mega models. The show was mostly those. It was fun to tour those beasts, but they're not for us. I wish there were more smaller and pop-up campers to see. But most people there seemed interested in the beast-mode models, so I can understand why the show caters to the masses.
** I did see my dream brand, though! Eventually we want an Aliner a-frame hard-top pop-up. There was one on display, not the exact model we want, but close. My goal was to actually see one of those first-person, and we did!
** Mantelli Trailer Sales of Lockport had the Aliner at the show, and the salesperson was great! She even closed and opened the unit for us, so we could see how set up works. We'll definitely be over to Mantelli to check out what Aliners they have in stock when we're ready to buy.
** We hit up a Timmy's before the show, so didn't need any chow. But they did have kettle corn vendors and the concession stand open in the event center, if you want to purchase food and/or drinks.
** The concessions sold alcohol, too. My hubbs and I think next year would be more fun to come just as a duo, grab a beverage, and leave the eventually-whiny children home. They did pretty good, but after a couple hours had reached a limit and were definitely killing the buzz. :-P
** One other kid-free note; the event center is hooked to the Hamburg Gaming casino. If you're sans-minors, you can hit up both the RV show and the casino for a doubly-fun outing, if you're into that kind of thing.
Overall, we learned a lot and had a lot of fun at the RV show! I docked a star because of the shortage of smaller RVs on display; I'd love to see more pop-ups and Aliners next year. But we're probably in the minority on that, so it's understandable the show is loaded with big-boy RVs. It was still fun to walk though them, too. Looking forward to next year's show, and this year's camping season!
