Longtime Vintage Forester Travel Trailer Rally stalwarts helped instill a love of their growing community of campers in others Sept. 13-14 at Crystal Lake Park campgrounds. "This is our seventh year," Darcy Piper of Mason City said.
"We really enjoy this. It's a lot of fun. You make so many good friends.
" She and her husband, Tip, noted that their friend and fellow rally goer, Anita Leonard of Lincoln, Nebraska, parks alongside them at the rally every year. It has been that way since the first Forester Rally they attended. This year, Leonard was unofficially the first arrival, setting up on the Saturday beforehand.
The Pipers arrived on the Sunday before, spending almost a week watching everybody else arrive. They said only Kerby Hanson, son of rally co-founder and organizer Marlen Hanson of Forest City, had a trailer parked on the grounds before Leonard and themselves. "Kerby Hanson's camper was here, but he wasn't, so that doesn't count," joked Tip.
"We always camp right beside Anita, and we even park in the same spots where we have a birdseye view of everything," said Darcy from her camp site with a clean sightline of blacktop and campground traffic. Theirs are some of the first campers everyone sees each year. Additionally, their Mason City neighbors, Rod and Sheila Haag and their dog Snickers, parked their camper on the other side after the Pipers encouraged them to participate.
Tip said they are amateur radio club members who also love camping. The Haags don't have a Forester trailer. They purchased their own trailer, in part, to attend this rally with friends.
Non-Forester trailers are also welcome at the festivities each September. The Pipers had their eye on the 17-foot 1968 Forester trailer with rear bath, originally manufactured in Forest City, for 13 years. It sat outside a neighbor's residence across Grover Street for so long, not far from their home, that it started sinking into the ground.
"It was sunk in dirt almost to the frame rail," Tip said. "It was probably one step away from going to the junkyard. Yet, it's one of the few that has original paint that still looks good.
" "We wandered over there and found out he was storing it for a friend," Darcy said. "We bought it that night and got it for $300." Tip interjected that it's worth a lot more now after putting extensive work and maintenance time into it.
He said his initial cleanup and restoration included about 35 hours of waxing, polishing, and buffing. "We've had it nine years," Tip said. "I spent about a year and a half restoring it.
"It still has more than 95% of the original upholstery and I updated the water system. We use it year round." "We don't keep really busy," Tip continued.
"That's the whole idea of coming. I do a little cooking and that's it." Marlen Hanson began working at the former Forest City-based Forester manufacturing plant in 1958, its first year.
He worked there 19 years until 1976, serving as a line worker, material handler, the head of final assembly, and a purchasing agent. The Forester trailers were manufactured by Forest City Industries in what is now a Holland Construction storage building on south side of town. Marlen's children – Julie, Kris, and Kerby – all worked hard to make this year's rally a success and participated throughout the long weekend.
The Hanson family began camping regularly in 1970. Marlen still has and uses his almost-entirely original 1970 Forester 16L trailer. "We came here a lot," said Julie of the Crystal Lake campgrounds.
"We also went to Pilot Knob and several places in Minnesota. I think we camped just about every weekend as kids." "We've had a great turnout again," said Marlen of the 2024 rally.
He noted that lighted displays on the trailers was something to see on Friday night. "One trailer (which belongs to Dennis and Glenda Gifford of Charles City) was all decorated for Halloween," said Marlen, not yet knowing the results of the annual lighting contest. "Boy, they really had a beautiful light display.
That's probably the best, in my opinion. The official results of the lighting contest and other awards can be found on the 2024 Vintage Forester Travel Trailer Rally Facebook page. Rob Hillesland is community editor for the Summit-tribune.
He can be reached at 641-421-0534, or by email at . Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
