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Glamp it up at the State Fairgrounds
For the first time in Raleigh, fans of all things retro have an event to call their very own. Head to the State Fairgrounds over Veteran’s Day weekend for the Vintage Fan Fair and take in the nostalgia: products and services from vintage vendors, old-school entertainment and activities, and classic car and trailer collections.
The event’s “Glamper Showcase” will feature more than 20 vintage campers, all open for you to tour. Victoria Ocken, author of the book “Vintage Trailer Voyeur,” a chronicle of vintage campers and their owners, will visit the fair on Friday and Saturday to meet the public and sign books. To get you in the spirit, we asked Ocken to share an excerpt from “Vintage Trailer Voyeur:”
“The Alaska-Canadian Highway in the 1960’s, with its many steep grades, switchbacks, dusty dirt surface and few guardrails is the background for some of Lori’s most treasured memories. A trip of a lifetime (especially for a nine-year old) Lori and her sister traveled the fabled route with her mother and father in a classic canned ham trailer, a Trail-Along. The unpaved road lead to some challenges as they stopped at night to a dust covered trailer, but her father was inventive and found an old oriental carpet to drape over the trailer to keep some of the dirt out. Add to that the caribou horns he procured for the car hood and you had quite a sight, especially on the return trip when traveling through the city. Memories like this last a lifetime, and you never know what will bring them to the surface fresh as the day they happened. For Lori it was an ordinary Saturday and a chance encounter at Barnes and Noble where a small group of vintage trailers were gathered for a book signing. One look and all the feeling came flooding back more powerful than ever imagined. She needed a trailer. After many disappointing missed deals, The Jolly Rancher entered her life. The warm birch paneling, the sweet wooden screen door with a little sliding door and the authentic soul of the camper were all perfect, but what sealed the deal was the layout. It was identical to that little camper that traveled the long road when she was nine. She was smitten. Lori can sit in the camper and go back to a simpler time, a time of adventure and wandering. Its walls are familiar like no other place can be. She is home, on the road again, with her parents watching from afar smiling and laughing with her.”
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