Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally 2023

Welcome to the Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally 2023, at the Gas City Campground in Medicine Hat Alberta. Tag along in an evening spent roaming about the grounds and admiring all those cute little retro trailers. There’s many old school RVs here, but those little egg-shaped campers (Bolers, Trilliums, et al) have us in a hold. Evidence shows we’re hardly alone in that matter and once you’ve caught the bug, it seems you’re infected for life.

The delusions are strong – we’re King of Bolertown Baby – if only for a few hours. Then it’s back to our everyday lives.

Each years a group of folks similarly obsessed, get together and spend a weekend camping. It’s a social affair hanging with like-minded folks and having a little fun. It’s a grand event with games, music and entertainment. Food trucks too! And like us, everyone comes to gawk. To appreciate the trailers, any restoration work and customizations done. Most campers are presented open house style and you’re encouraged to look around.

This is a photo heavy post (we just couldn’t resist) so grab a coffee, but first the write up…

As big a fan as is Team BIGDoer, we don’t actually own a Boler and that must sound strange. We’re obsessed, and probably more so than most, yet there’s not one parked in our garage.

Being a couple of poor broke adventurers means it can only happen in our dreams. What we wouldn’t do hit the road Boler-style and maybe one day it’ll happen. Lotto or something. All we need is a Boler and a proper tow vehicle, plus the funds to purchase both. Take those out of the equation and we’re that close to being in the club but till then, we live vicariously through others.

Till then it’s dive motels, couch surfing and tents.

Even without, we’re not outcasts and instead welcomed with open arms into the fraternity. Still, they call us a bit crazy. It goes deep and they’re just so cute we can’t resist.

Gas City Campground has almost a hundred spaces and most were taken up by the Vintage Trailer Rally this weekend. The vast majority of trailers here were Bolers, with both seventeen and thirteen foot models well represented. Production started in the late 1960s and continued for about twenty years. In that time many thousands were produced (some estimates state ten thousand or more), and given they’re a sound design, a lot are still on the road.

Welcome to the Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally, 2023.

Case in point here, and this crazy collection of Bolers going back fifty or sixty years. Peaks production was the 1970s, but even the newest examples are old timers for sure. Most Bolers and many other makes, seen at this event, were made in Canada. For some reason, producers of little fibreglass trailers once flourished in this country and there were factories in many provinces.

Brands other than Bolers are represented here, but in smaller numbers. Trilliums are still sort of in production and one of the most common of the little fibreglass trailers besides Bolers. There’s a couple here. The newest ones aren’t all that different from the eldest, but earlier examples are the majority. A Bigfoot is seen, a Lil’ Bigfoot too, so is a Surf Side, and we noted at least one Scamp.

There were many makers competing with Bolers back then, some with unique designs and others offering blatant Boler clones.

Some vintage slab-sided trailers and a small fibreglass one of European origins showed up for event. Interesting design that Biod, from the Netherlands. A rare Holly Van must hold record as the smallest camping trailer ever and makes even a thirteen foot Boler look spacious. I bet even our car could pull it, and it’s barely able to handle a grocery run.

No matter the make, most of these older trailers, the fibreglass ones especially (of which most seen here are of that type) are quite collectable. It’s not a cheap game to play, but they do hold their value if resold and with upkeep can seemingly last forever. Hand them down to your children or grandchildren as a family heirloom.

Bolers and their kin are often customized by their owners or at least the more ambitious owners. Given their age, they usually need some work anyway. Wear and tear stuff. Their value remains high if original and in good shape or if nicely customized. There’s few of the former at the Vintage Trailer Rally (Bella comes close I think), but lots of the latter and it’s almost a given that new Boler owners will personalize them to some degree.

Sometimes it’s simple and just a tidy-up, or a complete make-over.

Doing them up in custom colours graphics is always popular. Make it bold and make it stand out. Still, there’s a lot to be said of factory colours – those browns and tans with orange stripes seen on many seventeen foot Bolers. Strange shades were so popular in the 1970s. Or there’s the two tone Bolers with white on top usually – they’re a classic.

Vintage trailers are often given pet names. Marvin is that European Trailer, and was saw a Buttercup. Bella the Boler belongs to our friend Dan and Emily. <-- Bella the Boler Goes Home (Cheers!). We know Orange Blossom and have met before out in BC. Pysanka is the Ukrainian Easter egg Boler. Poopster! It goes on and on.

That’s just a sample and it sent us down a rabbithole. Looking in the Boler registry (yes, it’s a thing), here’s some random ones…Boler McBolerface, EggCellent, Over Easy, The SCRambler, Birdie’s Nest, Peaches and Cream, Billy Bob Boler, Duck Egg, Lemondrop, Yellow Submarine and there’s a whole bunch of others.

The names are almost always creative, fanciful and are usually a window into the mind of their owners. Many have egg related names and darn if we can understand why (insert smiley face here). Some Bolers are famous and have their own social followings.

Some owners of customized or done-up trailers go one better and make a matched set using a classic car. It’s amazing the trouble and work these people will do, but it’s worth it and they’re head turners. There’s some amazing trailers and car/trailer combos to be seen this day. A few Boler seem to be done up as rolling advertisements and state in less than subtle terms, their owner’s allegiances to specific brands. There’s a Bud Light Boler for one.

A rare (longer) Trillium 5500 and in cool colours too.

A single motorhome is noted among all the trailers and older ones like this tend to be rare given their additional complexity. This one’s a real nice beauty, a Travco called Myrtle and it’s close to our age. That is darn old (it’s from 1964). It’s so much bigger than anything else here and dwarfs any nearby fibreglass trailers.

We’ve been following Myrtle on social media for years, have chatted with the owners in that time, but have never met. We’re fans but they were out when we knocked. We did see them on the highway, next day after the event, but a face to face will have to wait till some other chance meeting.

We’re not the only ones touring the grounds and many locals from outside the Vintage Trailer Rally group stop by to check things out. Some do so on foot and others in cars, including a few gorgeous classics. Old cars gotta cruise…slowly too. During our walkabout, a Boler showed up in the overflow campground but they were not part of the rally. It was purely a coincidence and serendipity strikes again.

Now that’s enough babbling on, and let’s get you exploring the Gas City Campground. Bolers await! What’s that? They’re serving up Boleritas where?Ah…cocktails and dreams. Hours pass by, the light fades and soon it’s dark. For every vintage trailer seen in this post, there’s a bunch that didn’t get photographed. We have this penchant for chatting with owners and this eats up a lot of time.

Bolers: “It’s the sense of community, they’re easy to tow, they’re so light, they travel great…” – Linda Warner. Hope you enjoy our little tour of the Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally and please drop in again…

Posts from others who were there: (new tab): Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally 2023.

Stop by often for fresh and interesting content being posted regularly.

They’re saying…

“Thank you for all the engaging write ups and pictures…you two are a national treasure!” Bonnie & Gerald McDonald.

Random awesomeness…
Highway History (BC): the Garbage Gobbler.
Great Beater Challenge 2021.
A Tour of Sandon BC.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of Adventure: August, 2023.
Location(s): Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Our dear friends Dan and Emily (owners of Bella the Boler and of DanOCan.com), organizers of the Medicine Hat Vintage Trailer Rally 2023 and all the participants.

Everyone knows what beer you like.

A Robin’s egg on wheels.

Bigfoots are more squarish in shape.

Live small and dream big.

The Pysanka Easter egg Boler.

At every turn, it’s a Boler overload.

We crossed paths with the owners out in BC years ago and chatted.

BIGDoer yellow…but check out the next one.

We’re OTBPwC&C and approve of this colour.

The happy camper.

The Poopsters…

Lil Bigfoot Trailers are very Boler-like.

Surf Sides aren’t terribly common.

Bella, belonging to our friends at DanOCan.

Home is where you park it.

Some vintage slab-side trailers showed up to the rally.

They have the right idea.

A train slowly works it’s way up the valley.

Commemorating the 3rd Cdn Mounted Rifles & 175th Battalion (of WW1) .

Not part of the rally, but an interesting coincidence all the same.

Cocktails and Dreams…

Now pass the Boleritas!

Trillium was the biggest competitor to Bolers.

The colours work, but we’re impartial.

Not the only orange one, as it turns out.

A bold colour and a real stand out thanks to that.

Myrtle the 1964 Travco.

It’s makes a Boler look spacious and even our car could tow it.

It’s all got to match.

Made in Canada and this is a later model Boler.

Built in Europe.

Camping 1960s style.

Seen on on the drive home and one day we’ll chat with them.