BUTLER — The Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival has been taken over by a new organization — the Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association.

The association took over Thursday from the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, according to a news release from the association.

The board officers for the association are Rodney Schaffer, president; Sara DiBello, vice president; Ellen Roberts, secretary; and Wayne Kovac, treasurer.

The board members at large are Charles Pro, Bill Ringeisen and Rick DiBello.

On Oct. 29, the group filed for incorporation as a not-for-profit organization, and on Oct. 30 the association became an entity. Schaffer said on Oct. 30 the group adopted bylaws, and elected officers and the board members.

“We were just a group of people who had a common interest, and now we are an organized entity, we exist.” Schaffer said.

The festival honors the creation of the American Bantam vehicle in 1940 in Butler that grew into the Jeep. It has become a major tourist draw to the county as thousands of Jeep owners and fans flock to Butler County during the three-day annual event in June.

The tourism and convention bureau in August approved handing over control of the Jeep festival to the Jeep Festival Committee.

Jack Cohen, president of tourism bureau, said earlier that it had always been the intention of the bureau to help build the event and then pass it over to another entity within five years.

“We are excited that there is an opportunity for a new nonprofit group to take over the event, and we wish them all of the luck in the world to be successful as we’ve been in the past five years,” Cohen said.

Like any other tourism groups, the association will have an opportunity to be a member of the bureau.

Schaffer said it will become a member and its first year of membership is free courtesy of the bureau.

He said the bureau provided enough seed money for the association to get started.

“It was an amount that we determined was adequate for us to gracefully launch,” Schaffer said.

Neither Schaffer nor Cohen would say how much money the bureau gave the association.

The association is made up of volunteers who were involved in running the festival during the past five years, the release states. There are roughly 50 people who are members of the association.

Schaffer said the association has a huge task to organize, write a business plan, establish a budget and work on the festival in a time frame that is about two months shorter than usual.

But he said, “I am looking forward to a successful festival.”

The 2016 Jeep festival will be June 10-12 in downtown Butler and at Cooper’s Lake Campground.

Schaffer said people interested in volunteering can visit the website at www.bantamjeepfestival.com.

The association will be meeting weekly at the Butler Township Building at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Every other week it also will meet a second time on Monday nights.

Schaffer said the website will be updated to list the scheduled meetings and locations.