If you want to experience EAA AirVenture to the fullest, camping at Camp Scholler is the very best way to accomplish your goal. The immersive experience of living for a week with aviation enthusiasts from around the world, and the unique aspects available only by camping will make your experience even more memorable. One year our “backyard neighbor” at Camp Scholler was a husband and wife who, between them, helped design the debris shield for the International Space Station and who supervised payload operations for the Space Shuttle and ISS programs. We shared meals with each other and learned some really cool (unclassifed-only) details. What an experience!
Making reservations for Camp Scholler
One of the first things newcomers to AirVenture ask about camping ask about is making reservations. The first year we attended I was quite confused even after scouring the EAA website. That’s because it works very differently at Camp Scholler.
The first thing to know is three-fold: (1) the reservation window doesn’t open until 30 days prior to opening day and effectively only matters if you want a non-tent (hardsided unit) site with water and electricity, (2) you pay the daily rate for your campsite starting from the day you make the reservation through the end of the show, and (3) the vast majority of people won’t make any reservation at all!
To expand on this, there are a limited number of sites that have water and electric available. These are numbered, specific reserved sites that cannot be occupied by tenters, and reservations open 30 days prior to AirVenture. The people who reserve on the first day get the best sites, but they pay for that privilege. For 2024, the rate for an improved site is $87 per day, meaning that if you reserve on the first available day it will cost you $2,610 for the site. Most people interested in an improved site will log in daily once the reservation window opens, and they’ll lock in their reservation when sites get slim. Watch out, though, because once availability hits 10-20% those last sites will often sell out in less than a day. In recent years it seems that improved sites are completely sold out roughly two weeks prior to AirVenture’s opening day.
Any site that isn’t an improved site is considered a “general camping” site. If you’re skipping the expense of an improved site, then the only benefit to making a reservation early is that they will send your credentials so that you can skip the registration line upon arrival. This is a nice benefit, but in reality their camper registration is so efficient that even during busy registration times it’ll usually save you 30 minutes or less. The reason for this is that all “general camping” is an interesting drive-around-and-find-your-own-site experience. There are numerous gravel roads that are generally laid out in city-block fashion, but individual sites are not marked. You simply claim an open section of land that fits your camping unit, along with a reasonable amount of personal space around your setup. Someone with a compact car and pup tent might claim a 10×20 area, and can conceivably be next to a million-dollar Class-A motorhome with awning, picnic tables, and full outdoor kitchen taking up a 30×50 area.
Due to the ever increasing popularity of Camp Scholler, even if you arrive on the Sunday before the show starts you’ll likely be camping a mile or more from the entrance to the gate to the main grounds. If you have a small unit such as a compact car with tent and also the perseverance to drive around a while, you might luck out and find a spot between 25th and 45th, but this is rare unless you arrive Thursday or Friday (or even earlier).
There are three main reasons why finding a close spot is difficult. First, the hardest-working volunteers (and there’s a lot of them!) who volunteered at least 40 hours the previous year are provided with general-camping passes that are valid starting the first day that the campground opens, which is 30 days early. A bunch of them arrive that very first day and claim the closest sites. In addition, EAA offers “Chapter Camping” for EAA chapters across the country that want to reserve group sites for multiple members to camp together. EAA representatives “mark off” these group sites roughly three weeks prior to the show, and their methodology is to start with the closest available sites and keep going until all chapters have a site. This uses most of the available campsites from 30th all the way to the Lindbergh Gate. Lastly, most of the sites East of 18th and North of Elm (sites in blue on the map) are the improved sites that people pay the big bucks for. With some scattered exceptions, that leaves the wide-open land West of 18th or South of Elm available for individual, general camping units that arrive that weekend of the show.
Picking a spot to camp at Camp Scholler (General Camping)
There are three types of general campsites: 24-hour generator (no tents allowed), tent-only (no generators allowed), and mixed, true “general” camping. Hopefully it is obvious you can run a generator at all hours in a 24-hour generator site. In the mixed areas you can run a generator officially from 7 am to 10:30 pm; however, it’s most courteous and many people will wait until 8 am to power them on, and on most nights most generators are off by 10:00. If you’re tent camping in a mixed-use area, it is important to be aware of your camping neighbors and pick a tent site that is 10-20′ from the nearest generator to be safe from carbon monoxide poisoning. Likewise, if there’s already a tenter on a site, don’t be the RV’er who nonchalantly parks your rig with the generator exhaust pointing directly at their tent.
Pick a spot that is big enough to be comfortable, but don’t claim more land than you need.
Look at the campground map to see where the nearest facilities are and where the shuttle bus routes (school busses) are. Some people want to avoid the shuttle routes. Also, some tenters avoid setting up next to the port-a-potties… those doors seem multitudes louder when they open and close throughout the night!
Lastly, consider the terrain. Almost every year there is at least one significant rainfall, and some years have several rain events. On those years, there are certain camping areas that get VERY soft and motorized RV’s get stuck in the mudfest trying to leave. If you’re camping in a vehicle that will sink into soft ground, pick a relatively higher elevation campsite.
Amenities at Camp Scholler
Camp Scholler is like a city during EAA AirVenture with over 40,000 residents for the week! In addition to well placed port-a-potties that are never far away, there are multiple shower houses and supply stores on site. The “Red Barn” stores are stocked with basic food and camping supplies, as well as coffee, donuts, and slushies, for surprisingly reasonable prices. You can even keep your slushy cup and get $1 slushy refills all week long! There’s also a shuttle bus system that runs continuously each day from early morning until very late evening. Finally, there is a small playground for the littles near the camper registration center.
Getting around Camp Scholler
I’ve already mentioned the shuttle busses. They run along a regular route and there are multiple busses that run continuously throughout the day. Sometimes they get backed up or are full, causing some extra wait time (or some strategic planning to figure out where the best stops are at that time of day).
Many, many people bring bicycles, scooters, mopeds, minibikes, or golf carts to get around the campground. Bring appropriate locks for your equipment. Although theft is surprisingly rare for an event of this size, it does happen.
If you’re just a regular camper, the only mobility devices allowed inside the main grounds are battery powered mobility scooters. You can bring your own with you, or you can rent them on-site by the day (reservations the day prior are recommended). No bicycles, two-wheeled scooters, mopeds, or golf carts can be taken past the main gates; however, there is parking for all of these items near each gate. During busy times there can be thousands of bicycles parked in the corrals, so remember where you parked it!
Note that you CAN take hand-pulled wagons, chairs, umbrellas, water, and even small coolers with water, soda, and food. No wheeled coolers or alcohol are allowed past the main gates.
