GREENFIELD — For the people who gathered at the Good Sam Family Rally it is more than camping, its camaraderie.
Families gathered in RVs and tents at the Franklin County Fairgrounds to celebrate the 47th annual Good Sam Family Rally Samboree Memorial Day weekend, a three-day camp-out, hosted by the Good Sam Club, an international organization of RV enthusiasts. The event brings together campers to benefit others, while also giving families and friends a chance to enjoy each other’s company.
According to Walter Swenson, assistant state director for the Good Sam Club in Massachusetts, 150 families from as far as South Dakota and over the border in Ontario came to the event. The families are part of groups called chapters, which come together for Good Sam events around the country.
Camping enthusiasts participated in many events at the fairgrounds, including games, a lobster dinner and raffles, with money raised going to good causes such as Halo’s Wish, a group under the Massachusetts Good Sam Club that provides vacations to underprivileged families, according to Swenson.
According to Martha Lafond, a Cumberland, RI native in the Mass Minutemen RV Club chapter, the event gives her and other chapter members an excuse to come together and relax.
“Having a rally in the area is a lot of fun. Everyone gets along and is one family,” she said.
And for fellow Mass Minutemen member Ann Archambault, from Cape Coral, Fla., the event represents what her and others view as a “lifestyle” and “an investment in your happiness” by crossing the country and setting up camp in an RV among friends.
“You get away from your problems for a weekend,” Charles Archambault, Ann’s husband, said.
John and Charlene Burbury, a married couple from Webster, agree the event is one that brings people together — and that’s what has kept them coming back to Greenfield since 1995.
“It’s everybody,” John Burbury said. “The camaraderie, the people, the fun.”
You can reach Dan Desrochers at:
ddesrochers@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 257