Jun. 9—MIDDLEBURY — It's a day to celebrate all things RV.

Go RVing Day celebrates everything from the manufacturers who make campers to campgrounds where people live and play, and dealerships that sell to buyers who make a lifechanging decision to own an RV.

The industry in Michiana is a multi-billion dollar one, contributing to the economy and the livelihoods of over a third of Elkhart County residents. With 87% of all RVs produced in 2022 made in Indiana, at least 60-80% are made right here in Elkhart County, and many more not far away in adjacent counties.

Go RVing is a marketing and consumer awareness platform in partnership with the RV Industry Association and the RV Dealers Association with over 25 years history.

"Go RVing is rly a unique program in that it's an industry-wide marketing campaign," said Monika Geraci, RV Industry Association Director of PR & Communications. "It gets RVing at a basic awareness level. It's promoting RVing in general."

Last year, the platform implemented Go RVing Day to kick off what's often viewed as camping season, the summer. It's celebrated on the second Saturday in June, a day when many campers are already uprooting and taking for the roads and campgrounds.

Donna and David Keller, of Delphi, have camped most of their lives, starting out in tents with their families as kids, and later with a pop-up camper, then a motorhome, and then they downsized to a truck camper.

"When we bought the boat, we had the motorhome, and when we unloaded all of our stuff from the motorhome to the boat, we had to pay to store our motorhome while we lived on the boat because marines won't let you park a motorhome in the parking lot, but they'll let you park a pickup truck with a camper on the back because it's a car," Donna explained.

The Forest River Palomino Rogue fits on the back of their short bed eco-friendly pickup truck and allows them to park virtually anywhere they'd park a car, making the future trip much easier, and the wintertime boat living easier, too. It comes with all the features they need, and when they switch from the boat to the camper, they keep clothing and other items on them, so they're already ready to go next season.

This weekend, they stayed at the KOA in Middlebury with one of their granddaughters ahead of a week-long Bible camp in Kosciusko County. Donna said she loves her camper from Outpost RV in Middlebury so much that when people stop and ask her about it, she'll give them tours.

They're planning a family trip to Alaska soon and the RV is an opportunity for them to simplify that trek.

"He and my brother-in-law have never been to Alaska," Donna said. "My sister and I want to drive to Alaska and they bought a camper for their truck, too."

Her sister worked in Alaska for a period of time, so Donna and her sister visited the area a few times, but David has never been there.

Geraci said that according to RVIA polls, at least 44 million Americans have plans to go RVing this summer, and many will be first-time RVers. In addition to that, 72 million people have expressed an interest in looking to take an RV trip next year, and a third of leisure travelers say they would like to buy an RV within the next year.

"We know that not everyone will, but it's saying that people want to," she said. "What this shows us is there's a lot of people who are RVing and the interest is still really high."

The demographics of RVers are changing as well. In 2022, the median age for a first-time buyer was 32, and for a variety of reasons.

"There's so many people that buy campers now," Donna said. "(My granddaughter's) parents are looking for one."

In fact, the Kellers have used their camper to stay overnight when they went to their granddaughters' softball games almost weekly.

The ethnic makeup of RVers is also shifting to be more reflective of wider census data, Geraci said. Marketing through GO RVing has been influential in the shift.

"Go RVing has been working for over a decade on expanding the diversity of RVers," Geraci said. "It opens up wider markets for the industry. Over the past decade, GO RVing has made sure that everyone can see themselves in the ads."

Karen and Dean Oswald, Hershey, Penn. are using their pop-up camper in a different kind of way. Instead of staying in hotels as they make long treks to visit family across the country, the couple invested in a used pop-up that's been a lifesaver.

"We are just hit-and-run until we get to where we're going," Karen said. "We're not your typical campers."

"We are no campfires, no smores — we don't cook, we eat out everywhere we go," Dale said.

This weekend, they stopped at the KOA as they made their way to Idaho to visit Karen's sister.

"I used to worry all the time about what I'd bring home with me," Karen said. They even affectionately named their no-frills pop-up camper 'Bedbug.' With two homes, the couple has never wanted to take the risk of contracting the night-time bloodsuckers. The pop-up camper is perfect for them, especially as the minuscule size means they don't have to maneuver a motorhome or a fifth down the highway and instead can treat their temporary home more like a small utility trailer.

"It has everything we need but a bathroom, and I just use the bathhouse," Karen said.

The pop-up only came with one twin bed, but it also came with a dinette they didn't need, so they made that into a second bed. It's got a television, an air conditioner, a refrigerator, a microwave, and a Keurig, and they're perfectly content with that.

"All we do in here is sleep," Karen said, and unlike a hotel, they know that their cocker spaniel jack russel mixed dog Henry can come along, too.

Visit www.gorving.com to see how the RV industry is working together to fuel interest in a pivotal piece of Elkhart County's economy.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.