GREENVILLE—The FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) held its bi-annual gathering at the Great Darke County fairgrounds this past weekend.
FMCA Great Lakes Area President / National Vice President Ken Lewis spent his week with 420 FMCA members who converged on Greenville with 204 recreational vehicles.
FMCA aims to organize social activities, exchange RV information, and make supply benefits possible, in part through collective purchasing. The association’s interests also extend into political and legislative action. FMCA supports recreation programs and the legal rights of RV owners.
“We are a part of the Family Motor Coaches Association headquartered in Cincinnati,” said Lewis. “We are a nationwide family RVing organization started in 1963. We have about 70,000 members nationwide.”
“Every two years, we try to go to one of the three states, Ohio, Indiana, or Michigan, and do a rally like this for a weekend,” he continued. “Usually the first weekend after Memorial Day week, and we’re here in Greenville this year. Next year we’re returning to Allegan, Michigan, which is by Kalamazoo. A couple of years after that, back to Goshen, IN, and hopefully by 2027-2028, we’ll be back down here in Greenville.”
FMCA is pleased to call Greenville and the Darke County Fairgrounds home for a long weekend every several years.
“I did a lot of reconnaissance and researching, went to Auglaize County Fair and up by Youngstown, and many places. Greenville has a lot of infrastructure here as far as campsites, over 600 campsites here at the Darke County Fair. One of the other things is meeting buildings and places to have seminars and serve meals. Darke County Fairgrounds has both of those and here we are.”
Lewis, a retired Marine and Vietnam War veteran, shared the average age of FMCA members, which is 72.
“The Family Motor Coach Association has a lot of Vietnam Veterans,” Lewis noted. “We still have a few Korean War Veterans in the organization. Many of them don’t drive big rigs anymore, even smaller rigs, but we still have a lot of veterans. We have a Military Veterans Chapter in our International area. FMCA is in 10 different areas. Nine geographical areas, including one called the International, cover specific areas like military veterans.”
On Friday and Saturday, the New Madison Kiwanis Club provided free sausage sandwiches to veterans, including local and visiting veterans, in front of the fairgrounds coliseum.
“I passed it on to the organization’s members that not only do we have our food trucks here and the Kiwanis this year also,” Lewis said. “They provide this service to the veterans that come out – they’ll serve you a good sausage sandwich. Many of our group enjoyed the Kiwanis sandwiches more than once, and we appreciate all they do for our veterans.”
