Good Sam RV Club event in Wasilla July 18-22

WASILLA — Local celebrities, including DeeDee Jonrowe and Ken Peltier, will participate in various ways during the Good Sam RV Club Rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center Wednesday through Sunday.

The regional Good Sam RV Club rally is expected to draw 200 to 300 motor homes, campers and towed rigs to the parking lot of the Menard center.

The event is the premier RV rally in the state. Throughout the five-day event, entertainment will be provided in many forms. Participants will enter their family dogs in a dog show featuring Jonrowe as one of the judges. The Ken Peltier band will perform Saturday night as a spokesman for Alaska’s Healing Hearts, a group that supports weary and wounded veterans.

James Hastings of Alaska’s Healing Hearts and Darwin Fischer, state director of the Alaska Good Sam Club, worked together to organize a top-notch event that they say will benefit the city of Wasilla and Mat-Su Valley through revenue and exposure.

“I thought it would showcase all the great things we have in the Valley,” Hastings said. “If all the RVs that drive through here every summer stop and make Wasilla their home for a few days, they’re going to see what we have to offer. And if you have a couple hundred RVs here, all those people with disposable income are going to go find food and shops and things to do that bring in a lot of revenue to Wasilla.”

Hastings also is the past director of the sports center, where the event is planned. Hastings said he and Fischer hatched the idea while he was still working for the city.

The Good Sam Club will split event’s proceeds between Alaska’s Healing Hearts and Dogs for the Deaf. The rally is open to all types of camping apparatuses, from motor homes to tents. Alaska’s Healing Hearts also is helping sponsor sled dog rides and other activities around the event. The Good Sam Club is a nationwide RV club for those who promote safe and enjoyable camping. You do not have to be a member of the Good Sam Club to attend the rally.

“I think this is a great time for those who are just thinking about getting into RV’ing,” Hastings said. “Come be around a group of people that do this full-time and enjoy the fun, clean, enjoyable family atmosphere.”

Contact Tim Rockey at 352-2252 or tim.rockey@frontiersman.com. Follow @trockeynews on Twitter.