By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
WAKARUSA -- Life-long residents Nick and Susie Kulp easily recall the emotional strife raised when mattress manufacturer Comfo-Sleep closed and again when Wakarusa High School consolidated with Nappanee's. Many feared the quaint town, where neighbors pause to chat with friends and residents wave at strangers, would become a ghost town.
Consequently, the announcement that Monaco Coach Corp. would shutter operations in Elkhart, Nappanee and Wakarusa and lay off 1,430 workers has stirred feelings of deja vu in the Kulps. Like many in Wakarusa who have watched the Holiday Rambler grow from a backyard garage to a leading product for a publicly traded corporation, they worry that local businesses will have some financially challenging times ahead. But through experience they have learned to be confident that Wakarusa is stronger than the loss of any employer.
"This is not the death knell for the town," said Susie Kulp. "It's lasted 150 years."
Changes will certainly come to the town, just as previous downturns claimed the dry cleaners and local pharmacy. Even though Monaco drew workers from a wide region, Wakarusa businesses are expecting a drop in sales. Cook's Pizza is already noticing a decline in customers.
Just a few years ago, when the Monaco plant was churning out motorhomes, Cook's did not have an open seat for lunch between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Since the closure announcement, diners can find a seat after noon, and some Monaco regulars have been lingering longer after their meals.
Stan Cook, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother Steve, sometimes comes out of the kitchen and ribs those workers that if they do not hurry back to their office, they might get fired.
Everyone expected a slowdown, Cook said, but a complete closure came as a shock. Cook worries about not only the Monaco employees, but also the ripple effect as component and material suppliers to the RV makers begin to downsize as well.
Many Monaco workers have been stopping by stores to say goodbye.
"You're always sorry to see them go because over 28 years you've made some good friends," said Kenny Twa, owner of Wakarusa Pro Hardware. "You get to joke with them. You get to know them."
The situation is sad but for Barbara Beeson not surprising. The retired high school English teacher and Wakarusa resident taught for nearly 30 years. She noticed the continued devaluation of education by students who were confident they could get a good-paying job in an RV factory with only a high school diploma, or less.
Now, thanks to climbing gas prices and a stagnating economy, RV workers find themselves on the unemployment line with few easily transferable skills. State and federal governments quickly provided nearly $14 million in training grants to help displaced employees.
"I'm happy to see that happening," Beeson said while taking a break from mowing her lawn. "I hope those people take it seriously and train for something that is a little more permanent and not so dependent on the market."
Having lived through the recession and the oil embargo of the 1970s, Beeson knows the economy will eventually turn around and customers will return to the RV lots.
Cook is even more optimistic, believing that within a year the Monaco factory will begin producing RVs again. The skilled labor is available, he pointed out, and the work force knows how to build motorhomes and towables.
However, when Jim Hunsberger looks out his kitchen window, he sees signs that the economic troubles impacting the RV industry are much deeper than $4-a-gallon gas.
In the past, Wakarusa homes could be sold strictly on word of mouth, but two houses across from Hunsberger's have been on the market for months. And where in the 1970s he saw the recession take small and under-capitalized RV companies, now the major manufacturers like Monaco are closing.
Even though things are "kind of scary," Hunsberger still has faith in his town.
"It'll work out," he said. "It'll be rough but we'll survive. I can't see us drying up and blowing away."