WORTH TWP — Planners of the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival had two years to perfect the layout and logistics of their venue at the Big Butler Fair grounds.

But to create a bigger and better Jeep festival in 2013, event planners threw those old plans out and moved from the grounds near Prospect to Cooper’s Lake Campground in Worth Township.

“The biggest challenge is really the logistics of setting up the event. We went from working around a certain layout, and certain fixed locations, to a clean slate at Cooper’s Lake,” said Patti Jo Lambert, festival director and spokeswoman for the Butler County Tourism Bureau.

She said traffic management is the first item planners had to figure out, followed by the best way to get participants into the campground, before and during the event, which is this Friday through Sunday.

“We are trying to figure out the traffic flow and managing it so people are getting around as efficiently as they can, as well as ensuring everyone is admitted properly,” Lambert said.

“For example, everyone in a Jeep must be wearing a wristband. How do we ensure that everybody paid without backing up traffic?

“What’s the best way to stage Jeeps to get them in and out, especially as they are moving inside the venue? When you plan the average festival, you are just dealing with people, not vehicles, too. Now, we have to look at how to do that while keeping everyone safe.”

To further streamline the admission process on Friday, organizers ended registration this year four weeks before the event rather than two weeks ahead of time as before.

The extra time allowed organizers to mail out registration packets to participants, rather than distributing them at a general check-in.

“We customize every single Jeep’s registration packet, based on whatever that Jeep owner wanted to do at the event. It’s an intense amount of work to customize that many packets,” Lambert said.

“We had 1,068 Jeeps registered before May 19 (this year). Last year, we ended at about 1,100 at two weeks out. Had we ended at the exact same time this year, we likely would have been well ahead of that. We expect to have several hundred Jeeps register on-site as well.”

She said Cooper’s Lake Campground offered organizers more space to accommodate campers, place entrance gates in areas that make sense, locate vendors and plot utility hookups.

“We are excited about what we’ve come up with. We think it’s going to be really efficient, and people are going to be able to move around and see all the facets of the festival in once place, rather than scattered locations,” Lambert said.

“Even though Cooper’s (camping) is sold out, the spaces are so large that I think people are not going to have a clue there’s as many people in that campground as we’re expecting. Still, the only event that has hit capacity is the Glacial Interpretive Driving Tour.

“In most cases, we should be able to accommodate everybody that wants to be part of the event.”

A perk of the new location will be Jeep trails for returning guests and more challenging trails overall.

“That was one of the bonuses of moving to Cooper’s, having the additional acreage and terrain. We had three small trails at the fairgrounds and the terrain was fairly level.

“I think what we will be able to do now fits in more with what people are looking for when they go off-road,” Lambert said, adding the event will continue its partnership with Schuylkill County-based Rausch Creek Offroad Park in 2013.

“Off-roading and off-road trails are all they do. They manage our Jeep playground and our off-road trails. In a matter of a day, they were able to walk the property at Cooper’s, utilize existing roadways, so as not to disturb the property much, and plot for us, I believe, five trails this year.”

She said included would be mild trails for the everyday driver as well as moderate and difficult trails for more experienced drivers.

Beyond the trails, planning for the event has been aided by an army of about 400 volunteers, up from about 300 a year ago.

“The first year, it was only me planning until the last minute, and it about put me over the edge. It was a monumental task.,” Lambert said.

“Last year, we were able to identify people who had volunteered and were passionate and would like to be part of planning the next festival, and they became our planning committee. Many of them have stepped up and taken leadership roles.”

She said most of those 20 to 30 individuals head up a particular event or aspect of the weekend. Plus, everyone at the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, from interns to full-time staff, are somehow involved in planning the event.

“It’s great to see the camaraderie and the teamwork and the fun that we have while planning throughout the year,” Lambert said.

Lambert, the tourism bureau and volunteer efforts will become even more valuable as the Pyrotechnics Guild International’s Convention, also set at Cooper’s Lake Campground, arrives in August.

“The tourism bureau is integral in bringing the PGI event here, as well, so we are sharing, internally at the tourism bureau, information on vendors and how to address particular situations. I’m sure that (tourism bureau President Jack Cohen) shared a lot of those key learnings with the planners from PGI.”