Camp Petaluma MV Swap Meet, Gathering, Replacing Tower Park, 4/18-23/17, California

[Major Asstyrd]

This post contains updates from 4-15-17. More info can be had at www.MVCCNews.net in the Events area.

Camp Petaluma, the West Coast Military Vehicle Rally and Swap Meet, is the new venue for what was Camp Delta at Tower Park. Location is historic Petaluma in Sonoma County this April, at the San Francisco North/Petaluma KOA, 20 Rainsville Road, just off Stony Point Road north of town. It is officially April 18-23, 2017 with our rates good for days before and after.

Reason for the move to Petaluma is the campground at Tower Park was purchased by Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts and they are doing a complete renovation including a water park. This is shrinking the number of campsites, making it not work for us for the big April meet (but the Fall Camp Delta meet will return there centered in campground 2). After an exhaustive search for a large enough Spring campground with amenities, the MVCC Board chose this very nice KOA in the Sonoma County dairy and wine region. It has a variety of campsite and cabin amenities, an event building, and great MV driving opportunities on beautiful country roads ripe for excursions! Petaluma hotels, restaurants and antique stores are nearby.

The Military Vehicle Collectors of California remains your host and we will have a 40th Anniversary party on Friday night with food and live music. All welcome. Discounted camping rates are valid for "early birds" arriving as early as the Sunday before. There is a 4 night minimum plus a dry camping option for fewer nights. Details are on http://www.MVCCNews.net to include maps including an interactive campground map where you can see who has what site! Sunday is the traditional "pull out day" but we expect people who have never been to our Spring or Fall meets, so vendors wanting new customers might be happy they stay open to Sunday morning.

Here is what's planned so far:

• Two very scenic MV road trip options Friday with lunch stops
• Military radio demonstration Thursday and ??? with ranging exercise for those going offsite to see how their unit performs
• Ladies Lunch in Historic Downtown Petaluma with shopping, on Thursday
• Thirsty Thursday - BYOB and munchies. Vintage attire welcome
• Pancake breakfasts by the Ladies of the MVCC Friday, Saturday
• Friday dinner and party with live big band music sponsored by the MVCC. Vintage attire welcome
• MVCC member meeting Saturday with officer election final nominations, news about the September Camp Delta
• Fantastic commemorative T-shirts for sale

As usual for our Spring meet, our own Jo-Ann Lesser is our "Wagon Master" handling campsite and cabin assignments. Although the campground has been mostly reserved, there could be cancellations so contact Jo-Ann via the info below or just show up!

One way in is to ask a buddy if you can share his site. KOA has a special rate for that. Most of the sites are long pull-throughs and so have street access from both sides. See who is camping where on the interactive map here: http://legacy.1945gpw.com/mvcc_spring/map.aspx

If you have extra space to share, or if you are looking to share a campsite or cabin to lower your cost, let Jo-Ann know at 408-238-8277 or mamalesser@yahoo.com. If you have a site reserved through Jo-Ann but you have not contacted KOA to put a deposit on it, DO SO NOW OR RISK LOSING IT! This is the policy we have been operating under for years. Four wristbands will be given to each camper and you may leave unused bands on Will Call at the KOA office with names on them.




MVs must be parked at your or your friend's campsite or cabin, or contact Activities Coordinator John Neuenburg at 415-847-2801 or in_garage@hotmail.com for a location. It is fine to drive MVs around the facility.

Do not drive on grass if it is soft and will be damaged. If you have some parking space to share for a MV, or if you are commuting and want to park a MV, contact John. For more details, see http://www.mvccnews.net/petaluma_spring.html

 

[Tracer]

Thanks for the post Major! I'm anxious to visit the Petaluma KOA site. Tower park is a favorite but a little change will be fun. I'll be at campsite 202 right next to Sonny Hanson & Jim Porterfield. So stop by and say hello!

 

[Major Asstyrd]

Important updates are in the original post or go to the MVCC website event Basic Training here
http://www.mvccnews.net/petaluma_spring.html

Prepare to peg the FUN METER!

 

[Tracer]

Major we're leaving for Petaluma tomorrow on the 17th. Right now the weather for Petaluma is cloudy with a possible chance of a shower or two Mon - Wed. Thurs thru Sunday looks good..........see ya there.

 

[bigmike]

Tracer,
Travel safe! I'll see you on Saturday.

 

[Tracer]

10-4 Mike. See ya there.

 

[Major Asstyrd]

Those without reserved campsites should look closely at the event details on the MVCC event page of their website:
http://www.mvccnews.net/petaluma_spring.html

There is a lot there about parking options. Note the info about the Group Dry Camping areas and how it brings close parking whether or not you use it for camping. This also can be booked per day. The numbered campsites and cabins have a four night minimum.

Bring your MV - we'll find a place for it!

 

[Tracer]

Just got back, it was about an 700mi round trip. Monday it rained all the way from Donner Pass to Petaluma, but the weather on the return trip was sunny and nice the whole way.

 

[BillIdaho]

A total wasted trip for me (us). Beautiful park for camping, but NOT suitable for a vendor friendly event. People had to park up to a 1/2 mile away, and many were turned away at the office. Some were charged a $10 fee to walk around--after parking that far away! The shuttle ran on Friday and Saturday- which sucked for those wanting to attend on the other days. After several calls to the KOA camp for details about the spaces, we got either vague or incorrect info. Most vendors had little room to set up as expected/hoped.
As a vendor, we made less the entire week than what we had previously made in a single day!

 

[Tracer]

Bill, I understand that many vendors were unhappy with the setup at Petaluma. The MVCC membership is aware of the problem and several vendors voiced their concerns at the Saturday all hands meeting. The MVCC board will be working with the KOA to help correct the vendors concerns and the concerns of others. A good friend of mine has to go for kidney dialysis every other day, and the KOA wanted him to walk to and from the gate so his daughter could pick him up and drop him off, instead of allowing her entrance to pick him up at his camp site. He's 70+ and walking almost 1/2 a mile to and from the gate is out of the question. We had similar problems with the KOA at Tower Park when we moved there from Big Bear years ago, and our board and the KOA worked them out. I trust that the MVCC board and the KOA will be able to address the concerns of our vendors and others before next years meet. Hope to see you at Tower Park in September.

 

[bigmike]

Tracer,
i went by your site a few times Saturday but never hooked up. I'll be at tower park in the fall.

 

[Tracer]

Mike, Saturday was shopping day, looking for some deals and I found a couple but nothing great. We'll be at Tower Park in Sept. too.

 

[Major Asstyrd]

Bill, I understand that many vendors were unhappy with the setup at Petaluma. The MVCC membership is aware of the problem and several vendors voiced their concerns at the Saturday all hands meeting. The MVCC board will be working with the KOA to help correct the vendors concerns and the concerns of others. A good friend of mine has to go for kidney dialysis every other day, and the KOA wanted him to walk to and from the gate so his daughter could pick him up and drop him off, instead of allowing her entrance to pick him up at his camp site. He's 70+ and walking almost 1/2 a mile to and from the gate is out of the question. We had similar problems with the KOA at Tower Park when we moved there from Big Bear years ago, and our board and the KOA worked them out. I trust that the MVCC board and the KOA will be able to address the concerns of our vendors and others before next years meet. Hope to see you at Tower Park in September.

Yes, most of this will be fixed. KOA and we got to know each other last week. We will likely have shuttles more days and longer hours, and probably more offsite parking. There was more parking inside the campground than was apparent for people who read the MVCC website and posts here and on G503.com. For example it was possible to purchase a campsite for $10/night in the Group Camp Area at the north end, and this brought a parking spot and wristband. For those with campsites there was lots of room to park cars and pickups in the trailer storage yard where the units stored there could be blocked.

In a dry year the big grass fields to the east come into play, but we can't bank on that unless we do the event in the summer or what KOA wants, in September when they and we can do a lot of general advertising. There is nearly unlimited parking available next to the campground when dry.

So we will have more people in camp next year. Sonoma County has probably the largest concentration of MV owners and drivers in the state. Maybe we'll have golf car shuttles running up and down the hills, and a truck running to offsite lots for those needing merchandise hauled. Vendors who want to be in a higher traffic area can work through Jo-Ann to switch sites. She is not going to wait very long for people to renew their reservation for 2018 before giving the site to someone else. KOA will give Jo-Ann a report of available sites soon if not already done. People should reserve their same site ASAP and try to trade later.

This venue is farther away than Tower for many people, however Tower is no longer suitable for us for the big Spring meet. This is the only large campground that hits most of our priorities with few of the negatives within a very large radius of Tower Park. It is in the best, most scenic MV road-driving area of all of our swap meet venues since the 1970s. The many restaurants and quaint shops in Petaluma make it very friendly to the ladies and couples, and those who travel and stay in hotels. There are airport shuttles to and from Petaluma from SFO and OAK airports - a big upgrade for some - and there is commercial service now into Santa Rosa Airport.

We don't know if KOA will charge a day-use fee next year. Part of the reason they did was to discourage visitors because of the lack of non-campsite parking. They didn't expect as many visitors especially mid-week. Not many know this - KOA donated all of this revenue to the non-profit EMU Inc. organization who flew the Huey in on Saturday.