More visitors are making the trip to the RV/MH Hall of Fame, contributing to what President Darryl Searer said is among the hall’s best first quarters to date.
Hall admissions are up 20 percent, Searer said, and gift shop sales are equal to pre-Covid levels.
“We have lots of bookings, and people are starting to get more comfortable with [going out],” Searer said. “It is not normal yet, but much, much better that people feel comfier now. They are saying by May, everybody who wants to be vaccinated will be.”
The hall shut down March 18, 2020, following pandemic restrictions. When it opened back up in May, Searer said things steadily got better through fall.
Searer noted seeing a “steady stream” of customers throughout the day, even on the hall’s reduced winter hours, which are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. The center is closed Sundays, but will reopen Sundays, along with regular hours, April 1, he said.
The hall’s campaign to fund its new manufactured housing wing reached $1.269 million in donations March 16. The campaign’s goal started at $1.5 million, but Searer said that goal has increased to $1.7 million.
“We have had really good support from two to three big manufacturers, and excellent support from manufactured housing associations, and [donations] are still coming in,” Searer said. “We are still working on the campaign, but we are at a point right now where we definitely have money in the bank to build the [MH wing] building.”
Searer is not sure exactly what the building will cost, although he said the expectation is around $1 million. The remaining $500,000 or so will go toward the museum’s interior portion, he said.
The MH wing’s production process is going “very well,” Searer said. The center’s contracted builder started moving dirt March 16, he said, with the building itself scheduled for delivery April 18. The museum’s anticipated completion date remains July 30.
Looking ahead, Searer noted scheduling changes for the RV/MH Hall of Fame’s Induction Dinner, which will honor 2020 and 2021 classes Aug. 16.
“We felt really good about that,” he said in regard to the date change. “It is giving us more time with the Covid situation, and also more time on the building. We may have some of the museum’s inside done by [Aug. 16], so that is going to be a draw, especially for manufactured housing people that come to the dinner. We will be giving tours of the new building of what has been completed in the museum itself.”
Searer noted the hall’s only “down” circumstance involved the supplier exhibition at Elkhart Open House in September. Suppliers rolled over money they spent on last year’s cancelled Open House event. “We cannot resell those booths because people rolled money over,” he said.
Bookings for this year’s Open House are filling up.
“The only booths we are able to sell are the ones on the outside, but that is starting to move now,” Searer said. “I just sold three more booths on the outside, so we are about 75 percent sold out outside, and 100 percent sold out indoors.”
