danddferr Report post Posted January 27, 2013 Have not heard anything yet. Just wondering if there is plans for 2013 rally in Vermont this year? Dan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danddferr Report post Posted February 2, 2013 I got my answer. No Northeast Rally this year. Coming back in 2014. Too bad, the DW and I had a blast last year. Worked hard taking care of the coffee, donuts, breakfast etc. but we'd do it again. Dan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markstella Report post Posted March 6, 2013 Been searching for the same info. Is it because of the Gillette Rally being the same time? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diplomatman2002 Report post Posted March 9, 2013 There are several reasons as to why there will be no Northeast Area Rally in 2013. One of the main reasons is because of chapter and member support. In 2012 we had 377 member coaches, 37 vendors and one coach dealer with 10 coaches. It is only goes to reason if there is not a good family coach attendance that the vendors are not interested in attending. Vendors have found that their sales in general are way down all over the country. They have stated that people will attend the rallies, look at their products, decide if they want them and then buy them off the internet at a much lower price. When a vendor looks at what it cost them to travel to the rally, pay a rally fee, pay for parking, ship their products to the rally and if they are not sold to ship them to the next location, it is not cost effective. Another reason is that we have a situation where one of our larger chapters holds a multi chapter rally in Oswego, N.Y. that is held within a month of our Area Rally and draws from our attendance. Another muti chapter rally is held in Quonset Point, RI. within a month of our rally. In 2013 Good Sam will hold a National convention in Syracuse, NY from June 13-16 and FMCA will hold their National Convention in Gillette, WY. on June 19th. All of these events draw both family coaches and vendors away from our rally. Good Sam has announced that starting in 2014 , they will hold regional rallies in or near where FMCA holds rallies. Prior to my election as Northeast Area Vice President , a five year contract was signed with the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction, VT. to hold our rally at that location. This is an excellent facility and the management is excellent to work with but we constantly receive complaints that some chapters do not want to return to the facility despite it's facilities which are impossible to duplicate anywhere in the Area. In 2012 in order to afford the rally, we partnered with several veterans organizations and made the rally a veterans appreciation rally and held several special events as fund raisers for veterans . The understanding was that any profits from those organizations would be used for veterans which we have done. In addition the Champlain Valley Expo gave us a $15,000 discount on the rally expenses. Due to rally attendance and support we have lost money on nearly every rally since 2008. We suffer the same problems that most Areas do. Our members are aging out and not traveling much anymore, people are not volunteering , and costs are going up. For instance we just received notice that the cost of golf carts for 2014 will increase by $10.00 per cart due to rising transportation and other costs. I hope this explains why there will be no 2013 Northeast Rally and why Rallies in the future are in Jeopardy. Paul DuBois National Vice President Northeast Area Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markstella Report post Posted March 9, 2013 Thank you Paul for taking the time to explain the situation. Clearly avoiding any rumors otherwise. I attended this rally about two years ago and enjoyed everything. The location is perfect. Hopefully there will be one in 2014. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danddferr Report post Posted March 17, 2013 I agree I hope the 2014 rally will be a go. The 2012 rally was the first for Donna and myself. We had a blast. We volunteered and ran the coffee/donut in the mornings and help with other events ( hot dogs, the hot breakfast ) but we meet some great people who made the whole event a super experience for us and our camping group. Hope to do it again. Dan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danddferr Report post Posted January 25, 2014 The Northeast Rally is back for 2014. July 17 - 21 in Essex Junction, Vt. Looking forward to it! Dan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
