This year, Quartzsite (the RV show) was a lot like prior years – which is to say, not boring.

Quartzsite is a Show, a Faire, a Carnival, a Bazaar, a Flea Market – – – all rolled up into one giant extravaganza. The organizers put up a gigantic tent that is literally 700 feet long. (That’s more than two football fields.) The Big Tent is full of all sorts of vendors, only about 1/4 of whom are RV-specific. There are also kitchen gadgets, home remedies, salsas and pillows and purses and everything in between. A huge collection of eclectia (I think I made up that word).

Outside the Tent, additional pavilions are in place, with Tyson Wells taking center stage and bracketing the frontage road with acres of wares from hundreds of vendors. Throughout the frontage road and Main Street, small villages of vendors and booths are everywhere you look. It can take (literally) a week to actually walk through it all.

Westward, a massive Rock/Gem/Mineral show is in place both before and after the RV Show. And then there’s the omnipresent RV lots, with literally thousands of trailers, fifth-wheels, and motorhomes for sale.

Needless to say, all this activity brings in quite a crowd. The tiny 2000-person hamlet grows to an effective population of around 100,000 or so, spread out across the desert and camped in their own RV’s. Arizona DOT estimates that the “show season” brings 700,000 to 1,000,000 people through the area.

Instead of my usual post style of story-like narration, I’ll simply label a bunch of photos that capture the essence of this event. You should be able to hover over any picture for a short description, or click on it for a larger image.

Show-goers really like their pets, and they take them along by a variety of means. Leashes, strollers, backpacks, you name it. Dogs are definitely the favorite. We’d see cats at campsites, but not at the show.

Out in the desert, we were treated to seemingly endless sunsets – – – and cool, moon-lit evenings.

Weaving in and out of the crowds by day, and spacing-out in the desert at night. There are a lot of worse ways to spend some time.