Butler will celebrate its history of innovation this coming weekend — from Friday to Sunday — during the ninth annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.

The festival celebrates the origin and birthplace of the father of all Jeeps, which was produced by the American Bantam Car Co. of Butler. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower once attributed the Allied victory in World War II to two things — one of which was the Jeep.

Butler’s festival includes a variety of activities, including off-site road trails, a playground with obstacles, a Jeep history exhibit, a vendor area featuring more than 150 companies, a raffle, food, how-to clinics, a World War II encampment re-enactment and Jeep races.

The creation of the Jeep was a testament to Butler County’s spirit of innovation. In 1940, the U.S. Army asked 135 manufacturers to design a prototype of a four-wheel drive, 40 horsepower, 1,300-pound reconnaissance vehicle that could haul soldiers and heavy artillery. The Army specified that it wanted the vehicle ready for a test run within 49 days.

The American Bantam Car Co. vowed to deliver the vehicle in 45 days, thereby winning the contract. While a Bantam crew worked on the project, the factory’s manager — Frank Fenn — contacted Detroit designer Karl Probst, and the rest is history.

The newly-created vehicle was driven to Camp Holabird in Maryland, and the Bantam Jeep was the first of what eventually evolved into the Army’s World War II Jeep.

That spirit of innovation remains in Butler. Today, the county is home to a number of organizations and corporations that lead the way in their fields.

Penn United Technologies, located in Cabot, provides high-precision manufacturing solutions, such as prototyping, design for manufacturing, metal stamping, assembly, precision grinding, reel-to-reel plating and other services.

II-VI, located in Saxonburg, is a global leader in engineered materials and optoelectronic components that develops products in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment and consumer markets.

And Future POS, located in Butler, is a technology company that provides restaurants with user-friendly software. Its features cover everything from labor scheduling and employee timekeeping to inventory tracking, customer reservations and bartender drink recipes for training new staff.

So, when we celebrate Butler County innovation this coming weekend by honoring the history of the Jeep, let’s also not forget that the county is still a bastion of opportunity and ingenuity.

It’s a tradition of which all county residents should be proud.