Camp Petaluma West Coast MV Swap Meet, Gathering April 24-29, 2018, California

The 41st big Spring meet will make its second appearance in Petaluma, CA, USA the last week of April 2018, one week later than normal. This is an early notice for people planning their 2018 vacation and travel schedule.

Since the 1970s the Military Vehicle Collectors of California has hosted the largest annual MV swap meet and gathering west of the Mississippi. It has grown to be larger than many national conventions, continuing the legacy of famous past events: The Patterson Rally, Big Bear Park, and Camp Delta at Tower Park. It brings buyers and sellers of MVs, parts, and militaria together right when everybody is coming out of winter ready for action! Time to clean out the shed and move those parts to a new home!

This venue is the San Francisco North / Petaluma KOA, 20 Rainsville Road in Petaluma, CA. This is just north of the historical old town:


It's an ideal opportunity for out-of-area people to combine U.S. and California tourism with their favorite hobby! It is a wine growing and dairy ranching region known for its scenic beauty and great MV driving roads. Unlike previous locations for this meet, those flying into the major airports in San Francisco or Oakland can take an Airporter bus to within a few miles of the event, then get a lift from a friend, taxi, Uber, or Lyft. There is also airline service to nearby Sonoma County Airport, and the SMART train will take you to Petaluma. Many hotels, restaurants, antique stores and other shopping in town makes this ideal for couples and families, with kids who are not in school enjoying the KOA pool and play structures.

The MVCC Board is talking to KOA management about various improvements including closer parking for visitors who don't have a campsite or cabin, the day-user fee, low cost camping/parking in the Group Area, and how to free up more campsites because we expect to be full. We are also looking at ways to help day-users move purchased parts to their cars parked outside the campground proper.

Our own Jo-Ann Lesser is "Wagonmistress," organizing who camps where. Please contact her at mamalesser@yahoo.com or 408-440-6068. She will help find the right type of site for you and then you will contact KOA to place a deposit. If she has put your name on a site, contact KOA NOW to put a deposit on it or risk losing it.

KOA has cabins with bathroom and kitchen, but here is the smallest with neither. Good, inexpensive compromise between tent and luxury:


There are many long RV pull-throughs which can be divided so those with a small footprint can save money. There would be vehicle access on both sides. Ask Jo-Ann about this.


As usual with these Spring and Fall meets there is no vendor fee, just your campsite or cabin rental. Anybody can put items out to sell. No vehicle registration fee. We will find room in the campground for MVs brought by non-campers. There will be one scheduled MV road excursion in this very scenic, MV-friendly area.

More information to come!

Major, thank you for the heads up. I'll see you at Petaluma in April.

Well look at that, I am actually available to go up there.

I'll have to see about camping or not, but I will try to make the trip up for at least one day. Only about an hour from my location, so even if I can't camp I still might make it for the 28th and 29th, and possibly the 27th.

I will mark the date and plan for it, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll have truck by then to take up there.

This post has been deleted at the request of the Petaluma event organizers

This ad carries the artwork from the 2017 commemorative event T-shirt. We are creating different art for 2018! Click on it to see it larger....

Important updates are on the MVCC website www.MVCCNews.net in the Events area including info about activities. Day visitors especially should read Basic Training closely.

Short story for day visitors is we will again have almost no visitor parking onsite due to wet parking fields. High water table. So we'll again have offsite parking with a new twist on shuttle service that allows parking in different places, any day, and flexible hours. We again have a $10 daily admission fee for visitors and KOA will allow 100 person max per day. Best to get there early especially Friday, Saturday.

Prospective visitors who read the info will realize it is best to reserve an inexpensive space in the Group Area, if available, because it brings an admission wristband plus a car parking pass at KOA. Option is DRIVING your MV in. All MVs will be allowed in because we have certain places to park/display them if you have not arranged with a camping buddy to use his parking pad. I am the coordinator for those locations that so please contact me ahead of the meet if possible especially if you have a tank or some other big thing.

Because primarily of the campground's inability to park day visitors at this time of year, we are moving the meet in April 2019! It will be in a more central location too. News will be announced in the MVCC newsletter in April, and then to the public. Not sooner, so don't ask! Thanks to MVCC President Dave Ball for keeping up the search for the best venue for the largest annual MV meet in the West!

I heard the KOA campground is almost booked. If your choice of accommodations is not available, try back because they always get cancellations due to peoples' conflicts. Ask for the military vehicle group rate - we hope KOA is going to offer that right up to the Meet. Consider the small Camping Cabins - civilized but no kitchen or bathroom. See the above website for KOA contact info.

Please help us pass this news to people who don't read the MVCC newsletter, website, this or the G503.com Events forum. Especially those who might be day visitors.

John at in_garage@hotmail.com

Here is the updated ad going into Military Vehicles Magazine due out in early April. Click on it to make it larger:

I'm excited to hear about the new venue. I really like Tower Park and go there every fall but it's nowhere near as big. Hopefully the new venue won't be too far away.

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR DAY-USE VISITORS IS UP ON THE EVENT PAGE AT http://mvccnews.net/petaluma_spring.html

Reminder there is a 100 visitors per day limit! Get there early. The wristbands campers and cabin-renters get are not part of this number.

Visitors driving an MV will be able to drive it in. We have a place for it. See instructions about that. "Civilian" cars and trucks not allowed up the entrance drive unless checking in as a camper. See info about the Group Camping Area. Also info about offsite trailer parking options.

It will be nice to not have these logistics issues in April 2019, and for that matter at the Camp Delta Fall meet at Tower Park this September!

Weather forecast is great!
Campers stashing trailers or extra cars, pickups in the KOA trailer storage yard can block tenants but don't block cars, which will be our folks, or their car hauler trailers. Conserve space in there.

I hear the 100 day-user visitors per day rule by KOA might be a little fuzzy. We don't how many visitors we will have but if KOA draws the line, a MV driver should get in (and we have a space for the MV inside), and probably having a MVCC member name badge on could help.

Looking forward to this week but I’m more excited to see we are going back to tower park for the spring meet.

Mike we'll see ya at Petaluma. I'm at slip 202 next to Sonny Hanson & Jim Porterfield. Stop by I'm bringing some 5 Ton torque rod bushings. Yea I like that Tower Park idea too.

Due to a change in plans I won't be able to make it to this one. Hopefully next time there is an event I don't have any unforeseen circumstances pop up again.

Take lots of pictures if you can for those of us who can't make it and enjoy the nice weather!

Well put Kurt. Back to Tower Park in April 2019! Their renovations should be completed by this Summer just in time for us to check them out at the September Camp Delta meet.

We'll talk about Petaluma 2018 in other posts. The Dodge display plus the Motorcycles, Scooters, Bicycles display were very nice. Photos will be posted including on www.MVCCNews.net in the photo gallery. For the full feel of the meet, go there and look for updates this month.

Petaluma was an acceptable replacement for the Tower Park Spring swap meet for two years because it was the only campground in our region with 250+ sites including enough RV sites with utilities, tent camping, and cabins for those who prefer them. It's not easy to find this blend of features. The fringe benefits have been the scenic roads for excursions, a nice downtown to visit, and proximity to the many MVers in North SF Bay Area. But the lack of dry fields for day visitor parking which meant we had to use offsite parking and on-call shuttles was a "deal breaker" for the organizers. The hobby needs to be friendly to commuters from home and hotels. Not everybody can devote a four night camping reservation to their hobby. Vendors want as much traffic as they can get, and visiting shoppers want to have their car close for loading their purchases. We haven't faced a visitor admission fee until we came to Petaluma KOA. Many campgrounds with swimming pools and other amenities charge day-users. We have been able to negotiate this away at Tower Park, and it looks like there will be no visitor fee in 2019 and for that matter at the Camp Delta Fall meet September 18-23, 2018 at Tower Park which had been moved in 2017 to Campground 2 and it's southern extension called Campground 3. It worked out great.

Nearly everybody was happy to hear about the return to Tower Park April 23-28, 2019. More central, nice, flat swap meet layout, day-visitor parking right there on the levee OR in your buddies site, friendly to sharing sites. No doubt the smaller version this September will be well attended because of people wanting to check out the changes to the campground, including the water park in Campground 4, so they can choose or trade sites and cabins for April. Keep in mind the back-in campsite you had in 2016 might now be a deluxe cabin or 90 foot pull through! These can be shared.

For campsites and cabins for the upcoming event this September, contact Jo-Ann Lesser at mamalesser@yahoo.com. I heard there are only a handful of sites and cabins left in CG 2, 3. I assume sites in Campground 4 and the new RV sites in the remodeled Campground 1 will be available but likely not at our group discount.

Reservations for the April 2019 event cannot be made now because the layout and site numbering have not been finalized. Jo-Ann said they can be reserved through the park starting October 1 but this could accelerate. Watch www.MVCCNews.net for news.

Here is the layout as of 5/6/18. It could change:
https://towerparkresort.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/04/tower-park-map-4-18-2.pdf