Florida RV Trade Association (FRVTA) Executive Director Dave Kelly will have dual roles at the 2026 Florida RV SuperShow in January.
He will oversee the event, and he will be shopping for an RV.
After serving as executive director for five years and a total of 38 years with FRVTA, Kelly announced his retirement during the association’s annual convention last week in Miami. He said he will be on the hunt for a small travel trailer for his retirement, which will be official next spring.
He said, “I just felt like it was time to give someone else a shot to run this thing.”
Kelly will lead FRVTA through one final SuperShow before handing the reins to Ken Loyd. Loyd has served on the boards of directors of the Florida Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds and the FRVTA.
“Our director, Lance Wilson, retired about five years ago,” Kelly said, “and then about a year-and-a-half ago, Lesa Colvin, who was our show director, left. I just felt like we needed to have some continuity here for the staff for a couple of years, but they are in great shape now, so the time is right.”
Kelly, 66, said old age led to his decision to retire. He decided about a month ago, after a lot of soul searching and conversations with his wife.
Kelly joined FRVTA in 1987 as the marketing director. As one of two finalists, he was initially passed over in favor of the other applicant.
“I was working for a little company that was unknown at the time called Blockbuster Video, managing stores that were opening in the Tampa area,” Kelly said of the video-rental store that was founded in the fall of 1985. “I had gone to school for marketing and advertising, so it was not what I really wanted to do.”
A three-line, classified ad in the newspaper for a marketing position at FRVTA caught his attention. He hand-delivered his resume to the FRVTA office, where he met Colvin for the first time. The two would work together for 37 years.
“I just knew that was going to be my job,” Kelly said. “I knew that was what I was going to do for my career, but they picked the girl over me.”
Kelly said FRVTA came calling again a few months later after the first hire did not work out. The call came in December, and the SuperShow was a month away.
“I told them I could start after the first of the year, but they said, ‘You have to start now,’” he said. “It was only the third year of the SuperShow, and the (previous hire) had done nothing to promote it.”
Kelly said he remembers a conversation he had with a dealer at his first SuperShow.
“I was trying to get to know everybody, and one of the dealers came up, and I will never forget,” Kelly said. “It was a gentleman from Pensacola, and he said to me, ‘You know, this industry gets in your blood, and it really kind of sucks you in and makes you want to stay.’ He was right. He was absolutely right. It is a great industry.”
In the years that followed, Kelly said he made plenty of friends. He said he might call on a few for RV shopping advice.
“I think I know one or two dealers who might be able to help me out,” Kelly said. “I have always thought I would like a small travel trailer, something lightweight that I can pull with a vehicle we already have. One of my goals is to get to as many national parks as I can.”
Kelly is not free to hit the open road just yet. He said his wife is a few years from retirement, and the couple has two daughters set to graduate from the University of Florida in 2026. The family obligations might keep him close to home for a while. He said he plans to spend time at Florida’s state parks.
Kelly said he would like to stay involved in the RV industry and has visited with current SuperShow Director Patty Flanagan about lending a hand in retirement.
“I felt very honored and privileged to be able to work for this organization over the years,” Kelly said. “It is a great industry, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.”
