RV show reveals rare pandemic success story

By Cal Braid - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 4, 2023.

Herald photo by Cal Braid Families browse the selection of motorhomes and trailers during the Prairie Sky RV show Friday at Exhibition Park.

The Prairie Sky RV show is back at Exhibition Park, and it’s a shining display of pull trailers, fifth wheels, and motor homes.

There’s a virtually unnoticeable supply chain catch though.

Company president Attila Braun said, “You look at our trailers and they’re all brand new but two-thirds of them are 2022s that were ordered over a year ago. We’re trying to get back to a normalized year where we can order product and get it and sell it in the same year. Here we are and we have brand new ’22s to sell but this show should be full of ’23s.”

The pandemic had an interesting and unexpected effect on the RV industry.

Braun explained, “We were as afraid as everybody else-wondering ‘What’s going to happen to the business?’ But for starters, we were deemed an essential service because people were living in their trailers. It’s surprising how many people actually do live in their trailers who don’t have homes. As a result of that, they needed to rely on the services of RV dealerships. People started thinking more about buying trailers because they thought, ‘If we have to isolate at home, why don’t we just buy a trailer and we can start camping?’ It’s enclosed, it’s private; they thought, ‘We have our whole province to explore while we self-isolate our family’.”

The industry didn’t want to capitalize too much on their good fortune while other sectors suffered, says Braun.

“(If you’re) surprised to hear that, it’s because we didn’t brag about it. Because a lot of people I know in other businesses like hotels, barbershops, and restaurants suffered immensely. A lot of these were having to make major sacrifices or close their businesses. So, that’s happening on one end of the spectrum and we’re going crazy selling trailers like you wouldn’t believe and doing really well. It doesn’t make you feel good when others are suffering and you’re doing well. Fortunately for us, we happen to be an industry where it really helped a lot.”

Chase Oliver, general manager and co-owner of Prairie Sky, said that there are about 80 RV’s on display at this year’s show. In spite of the economic hardships of recent years, he reiterated that the market for RVs has been strong, saying that there was a “huge increase” in buyers who wanted to get out during the pandemic. He also discussed interest rates, saying, “They have gone up significantly, and we’re all consumers so it affects everybody, but we’re trying our best to keep the interest rates down as much as we can. We’ve got show rates going on right now which all the major lenders have given us, so we’re passing them on to our customers for the show here, and that’s bringing people out.”

The show runs every day until Feb. 5 in the north and south pavilions.