Jeeps overtake downtown Butler for festival’s Jeep Invasion
Jeep owners are notorious for customizing their vehicles with lights, bright colors, ducks and more. However, Jill Strong, of Ford City, took it to new heights with her pink vehicle, completed with a pink, sparkly skeletal passenger and a crochet spare tire cover she made herself.
“I like to be bright, loud; I want people to know it’s me,” said Strong. “There’s not very many cars that you can really customize like you can with Wranglers.”
The Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival’s Jeep Invasion provided a lively start to the weekend-long festival on Friday, June 12. Thousands of Jeep owners from all over joined other enthusiasts in Butler, the place where it all started for the vehicle.
Like many other attendees at the festival, Strong has maintained her love for the Jeep through multiple different versions of the vehicle. After owning multiple Jeep Wranglers, she still keeps coming back for more.
“This is my third Wrangler in a row. I had army green, and then I had orange crush, which is a brighter orange, and then the one beside me,” Strong said.
There are no rules for personalizing a Jeep. Some owners add colorful strobe lights, some do stickers and some, including Mckenzie Lester, of Altoona, pick a theme to stick to.
Lester’s Jeep is a tribute to the Netflix show “Stranger Things,” a show she says was her favorite when she decided to customize it.
“I had some friends that had a Jeep, and I guess it’s like, the thing. Everybody picks a name and a theme, and this was my favorite show, so that’s what I went with,” Lester said.
Other decorations were inspired by the kind of Jeep the owner had. Holly Harding’s Jeep is the Islander edition. Inspired by the coastal theme, Harding, of Altoona, chose a beach theme for her Jeep.
The bright blue vehicle stands out, looking as though it’s making an adventure to the beach, completed with a surf board in the backseat. Harding’s Jeep, which she’s brought to the last five years of the festival, stands out so much that repeat attendees remember it.
“We’ve really played into the Islander edition, as you can tell,” Harding said. “We’ve heard people, since we’ve been here, like come up and say ‘Oh, it’s Tiki Bob, he’s back!’ so that’s been really exciting for me.”
Conversation is easily sparked at the Jeep Invasion. Ducks are exchanged, customization decisions are discussed and treasured friendships are formed. Though, no friendships formed are quite as special as that between Harding and her dog, Cooper, who was adopted at Jeep Fest in 2025.
“Bark About it Rescue was at Jeep Fest last year, and that’s where we got Cooper, this is his first time back since then, so this is his one year anniversary,” Harding said.
Displayed vehicles give the large group of enthusiasts a chance to learn about and get new ideas for their cars as well. The variety of modifications offers endless inspiration.
“I like walking around and seeing what people have done, like modifications wise,” Lester said. “It gives you ideas, you know, you can see what you like, what you don’t like, what you think looks good, what you don’t and everybody can pick whatever they want to do.”
