Hershey Wraps Up, Fall Colors Peak, and Eyes Turn to Tampa

The leaves are just starting to turn across the Ozarks this week, and if you drive up Scenic 7 through Ozark National Forest, you can already spot a few maples going orange. Peak color in the Ozarks and Ouachitas usually lands in the last two weeks of October, according to ExploreFall's Arkansas map, so there's still time to plan a drive before the trees go bare. Meanwhile, the RV world just wrapped its biggest show of the year in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the calendar's already swinging toward Tampa, Quartzsite, and the long haul south for the snowbirds. Here's what's worth knowing before you point the rig anywhere.

Hershey Wraps with Its Best Crowd Since 2021

America's Largest RV Show closed out its 57th year in Hershey on September 20th with 43,148 visitors walking the Giant Center, and PRVCA's Heather Leach called it a genuinely good week for dealers despite a few days of rain. Opening day alone pulled in 7,322 people, the biggest single-day crowd since 2021, which is a decent sign the industry's rough couple of years might be starting to loosen up a bit.

The show floor backed that up with a wave of 2027 debuts. Keystone gave its Montana and High Country fifth wheels a ground-up redesign: a wider 101-inch body, a new CURT coil suspension rated to cut road shock in half, and a Four Season Living package good down to 0°F. Grand Design, a brand that's only ever built towables, rolled out its first gas-powered motorhome, the Lineage Series E 30DC. Winnebago showed off its off-grid ARKA alongside the compact, all-electric Elora/Resa Class C, which runs entirely on lithium power with no propane onboard at all. Class B builder Pleasure-Way stepped into new territory too, unveiling its first-ever travel trailer, the Everbound. And Aliner brought its folding Alite camper back after a decade off the market, an 11-foot, 672-pound trailer built for anyone towing with something smaller than a full-size truck.

The Market Underneath the Show Floor

All those new floorplans are debuting into a soft market, and the numbers back that up. RVIA's August shipment report showed 23,599 units shipped for the month, down 16.4% from a year earlier, with year-to-date shipments off 14.2%. Thor Industries, parent of Airstream, Jayco and Keystone, posted $9.61 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue but missed profit estimates, with CEO Bob Martin saying retail demand "never reached the inflection point" this year. Winnebago Industries is set to report its own Q4 numbers on October 21, after already guiding to a double-digit sales drop.

None of that's great news if you're a dealer sitting on inventory. It's not bad news if you're shopping, though. Manufacturers are protecting price points rather than raising them, and dealers still have plenty of reason to deal on leftover 2025 and 2026 units before the 2027s take over the lot.

Recalls Worth a Five-Minute Check

A handful of recalls crossed NHTSA's desk over the past few weeks, and a couple are worth checking your VIN against before your next trip:

• 2027 Forest River Vibe travel trailers - the furnace exhaust may not be properly attached to the outside flue, which can let carbon monoxide build up inside the cabin. Dealers will reposition the furnace at no charge; details here.
• 2026-2027 Tiffin Wayfarer - some units left the factory with a propane tank that's loose in its mounting bracket and missing a remote shutoff. Dealers will install the shutoff and replace the bracket free of charge (Tiffin's internal number is WAY-108); more here.
• 2027 Forest River Salem and Wildwood trailers - the exterior griddle can be stowed while it's still connected to the LP gas line, which is a fire risk. A clamp fix is coming at no cost; see the notice.
• 2026-2027 Storyteller Overland MODE/GXV HILTS and Kibbi Renegade RVs - both use MaxxAir N-Series roof vent fans whose circuit board can overheat during operation. Dealers will inspect and replace the board free of charge; read the recall.

If you own one of these or you're not sure, run your VIN through NHTSA's recall lookup on their site or give your dealer a call. None of these are cause for panic, but a loose propane tank or an overheating vent fan is worth a look before your next trip.

Where the Show Calendar Heads Next

With Hershey behind us, the season shifts toward winter. The big one is the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa, January 13-17, 2027, marking its 41st year with more than 1,300 new products spread across 1.5 million square feet at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Closer to our corner of the country, four shows land within a few weeks of each other in late January: the Boat & RV Show in Tulsa (Jan. 8-10), the OKC Boat & RV Show at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds (Jan. 15-17), and the same weekend, both the Kansas City RV Show at Bartle Hall and the STL RV Travel Show in downtown St. Louis (Jan. 29-31). If you're within a few hours of any of those, it's a solid chance to compare 2027 floorplans without driving all the way to Florida.

Booking Your Winter Escape

If you're one of the folks pointing the rig south for the winter, the booking window's closing faster than you'd think. Snowbird arrivals typically peak from late October through early January, and long-stay parks in the Rio Grande Valley, Gulf Coast and Florida book six to twelve months out. The Rio Grande Valley towns of McAllen, Harlingen and Weslaco have some of the highest concentrations of snowbird RV parks anywhere in the country, and the I-10 corridor through Gulf Shores and Biloxi is a shorter drive if you're coming from farther north.

Heading west instead? Arizona's Western Snowbird Highway runs through Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma toward Quartzsite, where the Quartzsite RV Show runs January 15-23, 2027, and pulls something like 750,000 to a million visitors into a town that's otherwise pretty quiet the rest of the year. Either way, if you want full hookups for a 90-day stay, now's the time to start making calls.

Wherever the next few months take you, whether that's a weekend chasing color change up Highway 7 or a winter parked outside McAllen, a rig that's been looked over before you leave the driveway makes for a lot more fun than one that hasn't. Schedule service before you head out, and let's get you squared away.