SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — It’s a weekend packed with history, fun, and friendship for Jeep owners and lovers alike.
“It’s a family affair and everyone enjoys it,” said Bill Ringeisen, an historian with the Friends of Bantam Jeep Association.
This is the 15th year of the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival. It’s held at Cooper’s Lake in Butler County.
Butler County is where Jeep got its start. They developed and built the Bantam Reconnaissance Car in the 1940s in just 49 days for the military.
“They were there within half an hour of the deadline of the Jeep being there,” Ringeisen said.
The third prototype of that early Jeep is on display at the festival, which runs through Sunday. Their whole history exhibit has been Jeeps from every decade. Some have familiar names like the Grand Wagoneer. Others are rarer, like a Jeep ambulance from 1968.
On Friday night, more than 1,000 Jeeps of any year and model will take part in a parade into downtown Butler.
“We hold the record for the largest Jeep parade, 2,400-some Jeeps for the record, and we invade the City of Butler,” said Wayne Kovac, President of the Friends of Bantam Jeep Association.
If you can’t make it to the Jeep Invasion before 10 p.m. Friday, don’t worry. There are events at Cooper’s Lake all weekend.
They have more than 100 vendors on site, “Barbee Jeep” races Saturday night, and all weekend, you can take your own Jeep out on a massive playground obstacle course.
“This year here we brought in truer truckloads of concrete stairs, concrete cement objects, tires, rock, dirt, mud, anything that your Jeep is, you could design your Jeep capable of doing, climbing stairs, climbing rocks, running through mud, going over a log bridge, a lot of rock barriers,” Kovac said.
Ultimately, organizers said it’s a family fun event, but it’s one to celebrate the history of the Jeep that started right here in Butler.
“When you get people coming in with their kids and teaching them about the history and how a community could come together and try to make a difference on this planet, it’s a big deal,” said Jack Cohen, who helped start the festival 15 years ago.
To see a full list of events and learn more about the festival, click here.
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