ELKHART — Downtown Elkhart took on the feel of a massive RV showroom Saturday morning as the second day of the 55th annual Midwest RV Super Show kicked off in Elkhart’s Civic Plaza.

Traditionally held at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, the annual summer event was canceled for the first time last year due to the struggling economy.

This year, however, it appears the industry has begun its turnaround and dealers have taken advantage by selecting an entirely new venue for the annual event.

“It’s been working out real well,” said Rob Reid, owner of Great Lakes RV Center in Elkhart. “We’ve got 10 dealers out here right now, and the crowd seems real good. The people out here seem genuinely interested, and they’re buying ... so we’re thrilled that the show is back on.”

According to Reid, the hard times experienced by the RV industry over the past few years finally appears to be letting up. Though, he admitted that people are still being cautious, especially when it comes to big ticket purchases like RVs.

“They’re still holding onto their pocketbooks, but they’re letting some of it go if they see a value,” Reid said. “They’re more conservative, but when they see something they like they’re buying it, which is definitely an improvement. A year and a half ago it was extremely hard to get money out of people, even people that had money. But now we’ve bounced, and we’re on the way back up.”

Reid said he first started noticing the industry beginning to turn around about six months ago. Sales, he said, are up 30 to 35 percent over last year through the first six months of 2010.

Scot Moody, a salesman with Elkhart’s Total Value RV, concurred with Reid’s assessment of the industry. He also started to notice an uptick in business after the first of the year when banks began lending more.

“When you look at the economy now, people I think are just more comfortable than what they were, a bit more comfortable with where it’s going,” Moody said. “Before, nobody knew, but I think that’s changing, and people are feeling a little more confident with their spending.”

According to Derril Corbett, a salesman with Shadow Lite RV of White Pigeon, Mich., much of that change in attitude appears to be centered around the growing trend of cash purchases rather than credit.

“People are starting to spend some of their own money, rather than having to finance,” Corbett said. “So, it’s kind of taken on this whole new dynamic as far as purchasing an RV is concerned.”

Corbett said that while RV dealerships are seeing more younger buyers right now, the industry’s strongest customer still appears to be retirees, or eventual retirees like Daniel Spink of Granger.

Spink attended Saturday’s event and enjoyed browsing the offerings.

“We’re getting toward retirement age and we’re starting to look around and see what options we have,” Spink said. “We’ve had a trailer and we’ve had a motorhome, but when gas prices went crazy a couple years ago we got rid of the motorhome. Now things seem to be calming down a bit, and we’re just starting to consider getting back into it.”

Spink said he has always enjoyed the annual RV shows, and is glad the tradition has returned after last year’s cancelation.

“I really like this event, absolutely,” Spink said. “I think it was a little better at the fairgrounds, a little more room, but they were probably being a little more cautious with their spending this year, which is understandable.”

As for his prospects for finding a new RV at the show, Spink said he’s interested, but hasn’t yet made the leap to committing to a purchase.

“We’re deciding whether we want to buy right now, maybe something smaller we can use right now, or maybe we’ll wait a year or two down the road and go with one of the bigger models,” Spink said. “We haven’t decided yet.”

Mary Ann Slavik of Niles, Mich., said that while she and her husband are definitely interested in purchasing an RV for their retirement years, Saturday’s adventures were strictly a fact-finding mission.

“We’re not ready to retire yet, but we’re planning ahead,” Slavik said. “This is a great event for browsing, because if you go to a dealer, you won’t get to see this big selection of all these different types of RVs. We’ve gone to RV shows for a long time just kind of more for fun, but now I’m getting serious.

“My husband, I don’t know about him. But me, definitely.”