RV park company is banking on baby boomers’ wanderlust

As sure as they know that the buds will come out on the trees in spring and the birds will start to sing, the folks who run Grapevine 7 know their customers will start finding their way back to their RV parks when the weather warms up in May.

Grapevine 7, a family-owned company with eight parks in Idaho, Oregon and Arizona, is expanding this year with a new property in McCall. Its owners are banking on the idea that the baby boomers are starting to retire, and they’re ready to hit the road.

The company bought its McCall park for $1.4 million in September. That property includes a lodge and 12 cabins. They’re also looking for other properties to acquire, said co-owner Paige Freedman. They see a big market in empty nesters with the cash and time to get on the move.

“There are a lot more people wanting to travel,” Freedman said. “They’re all retiring.”

Idaho has about 300 private campgrounds and another 350 owned by agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the state parks department, said Anne Chambers, the executive director of the state RV park association.

Idaho hasn’t traditionally been a big destination for snowbirds, the retirees who head south every winter. It’s just not warm enough. But it’s an important stopping place for the northerners who spent the winter somewhere warm like Arizona and are now heading back to their summer homes in the north United States or Canada. And Grapevine 7 also gets visitors who stop over on cross-country journeys. The company does about 35 percent of its business between June and September, said Spencer Freedman, who is the son of the owners and a property manager for the company’s parks in Boise and Meridian. The snowbirds start appearing around May.

Awareness of Idaho as more than a stopping place appears to be picking up, he said. Lately many visitors have mentioned the Boise State University football team.

“It’s becoming more well-known,” he said. “People want to see what Idaho is about.”

Grapevine 7 started in the 1970s with parks in Arizona and Idaho. Now there are regulars who spend summers at a Grapevine 7 park in Idaho, and winters down at a Grapevine 7 in Arizona. The company’s largest park has 500 RV sites in Arizona; its smallest is a park with 76 sites in Donnelly. The 55-acre RV park in McCall is a new line of business for Grapevine 7, because the company will operate cabins for the first time. It also has 100 RV sites, and Paige Freedman said they plan to put RV sites on another 27 acres.

Grapevine 7 also has trailer parks, or manufactured housing parks, in Meridian and Ontario, Ore. The Oregon park is only for people over the age of 55.

Spencer Freedman, who grew up in the business, said he appreciates seeing travelers at their best.

“One of the main lessons that I’ve learned from RV-ers in general is to really just enjoy life. They’re usually pretty upbeat and full of life and interested in talking,” he said. “It works out very nice for us.”