Madison To Host FMCA Summer Convention in 2011

[tmoning]

FMCA's 86th International Convention will be held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The dates for this event will be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, August 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2011. Family parking days will be Monday and Tuesday, August 8 and 9, 2011.

The Alliant Energy Center is a 164-acre complex that includes Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Exhibition Hall, Willow Island and the Arena. It is accessible from five major highways and interstates.

Many families will be parked at Lake Farm Park, which is located approximately two miles from Alliant Energy Center. Lake Farm Park is a beautiful lakeside county-operated park with boat docks, picnic shelters, walking paths and playground equipment. It should be a great location to bring families.

This will be FMCA's second international convention at Alliant Energy Center (formerly the Dane County Exposition Center). The last time FMCA met in Madison, Wisconsin, was in 1984, for the 30th convention of the association.

We look forward to seeing you at FMCA's 86th International Convention in Madison, Wisconsin!

More info about Alliant Energy Center: www.alliantenergycenter.com

Exhibition Hall at Alliant Energy Center

Aerial view of Alliant Energy Center

[jmonroe]

Having lived in the area for 35 years, let me know if we can help. I'm retired as of June 1st and can't say for sure what the immediate future holds, but would be very surprised if we'd have both homes sold before then.

Obviously Lake Farm won't hold the entire cadre of attendees. I assume there will be accomodations on site too?

[southerner15]

Do you know where others will be parking distance-wise in relation to seminars, etc.? Having a dog to attend to means being able to run back between some of the seminars, so closeby is good. Haven't been to the area since taking a course at Ft McCoy, so I may be interested in attending.

[jmonroe]

It's a nice facility, in a beautiful city. A lot of both large and small functions are held there, including the Dane County fair, but if you're not staying on the grounds, you're going to be some distance away.

[czarsty]

Madison will be a wonderful site. In addition to parking on the grounds of Alliant Energy Center and the abutting dog park we will have close-by parking which I think is phenomenal. FMCA is taking over the Lake Farm County Park and is it ever beautiful. There is green grass, tons of shade trees (but not so many that you can't get your satellite to work) pavilions, walking trails, and a huge lake where you can fish or boat if you bring your own boat. FMCA will run continuous shuttles from the park to the Alliant Energy Center less than 2 miles away. There will be ample busses running to get you back to your rig and your pet and then back to the exhibits, seminars, special events, and show coaches. Hope this answers your questions.

[Guest BillAdams]

I guess that's better than being 20 miles away like Albuquerque but I sure prefer a rally like Pomona, CA where everyone is on the grounds and it's just a tram ride away.

This is disappointing news in my opinion.

[jmonroe]

Just to be clear, Lake Farm Park is on one of the lakes (there are 4 lakes within the city limits of Madison, which is why many businesses will include "4 Lakes...something or other"), but the campground is not on the water, nor can you see the lake from the campground. You can take a trail from the campground to the lake.

Many of the sites are big rig compatible, 50 amp power (although they share one power post between two sites - two 50 & 30 amp recepticles per box. In some cases the post may be out of reach of even an extra 25' of extension cord), no water or sewer, but they do have a nice easy access dump station. The showers are 'individual', not part of the restrooms. (if you send me a private email I can email you a map of the campground, with sites I deemed compatible with our 43' rig marked). I don't believe satellite reception would be a problem in any of the big rig sites, but if in one of the smaller sites, along the back of the park (maybe in a class B or small C?), it could be.

[czarsty]

You are certainly right in your depiction of the campground but this is not what I was talking about.

Unfortunately I was not precise in my description of the park. It is Lake Farm Park and if you go to google earth and look for that name you will see the campground you are referring to with the balloon marked "B".

I was referring the to area with the balloon marked "C" which borders on the lake. You can see in the picture the trail leading to the pier on the lake. I am sorry for the confusion.

[scott0651]

You are certainly right in your depiction of the campground but this is not what I was talking about.

Unfortunately I was not precise in my description of the park. It is Lake Farm Park and if you go to google earth and look for that name you will see the campground you are referring to with the balloon marked "B".

I was referring the to area with the balloon marked "C" which borders on the lake. You can see in the picture the trail leading to the pier on the lake. I am sorry for the confusion.

I tried to reserve a spot at Lake Park and was told that FMCA had the whole park reserved. So I called FMCA and they told me that it's reserved for their support staff and they weren't sure if there would be any spots left for members.

I have never been to rally before; is this how it's supposed to work? I need 50 amps and the lady I talked with gave me the impression I might be out of luck. If I have to stay too far away I might as well just drive in daily from home.

[jmonroe]

Never having been to an FMCA rally, I don't know how many rigs they atttract, but the Dane County faciltiy is quite large. I'm guessing a lot of rigs will be accomodated on the grounds. The University also has a number of very large parking lots, maybe they'll use some of those? None that I can think of are within walking distance though, they'd all require a shuttle.

Depending on your rig size, there are a number of nice county parks in Dane County, check out their web site, and be sure to check their location relative to the rally site. At least one is on the other side of the county, although it is right on one of the lakes, and would be quite a commute to the rally. The one down in McFarland wouldn't be too bad, and is also on one of the lakes. Unfortunately the only private park in the immediate area is the KOA in Deforest. It is right off I90 and I'd estimate 30 minutes from the rally location, in GOOD traffic.

[migrantdawgs]

We were considering attending and am wondering - the seminars posted are both kid-family oriented, and we are curious is this convention GEARED toward traveling families as in, with kids? We are an adult couple with four-legged kids and not so interested in the kid aspect...can anyone give me some info on this? thanks!

[wolfe10]

We were considering attending and am wondering - the seminars posted are both kid-family oriented, and we are curious is this convention GEARED toward traveling families as in, with kids? We are an adult couple with four-legged kids and not so interested in the kid aspect...can anyone give me some info on this? thanks!

While there are seminars and activities geared toward kids-- enough to make this a reasonable family activity, the VAST majority of attendees and activities are geared for mature adults.