Large crowds enjoy music, food and lots of jeeps
More than 1,200 Jeeps lined Main Street, starting just past the bridge over Connoquenessing Creek to the bottom of the hill leading north and maxing out the number of Jeeps that could be parked in downtown Butler.
Jeeps of all kinds were surrounded by large crowds enjoying fun, music and the special brand of Jeep solidarity.
“It's a great night to be in Butler,” said Patti Jo Lambert, Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival director.
Lambert said the event is about not just seeing Jeeps, but overloading on the variety.
“While there's thousands of Jeeps out at the festival at Coopers Lake Campground, they're much more concentrated here,” she said. “So you really can walk up and down Main Street and the side streets and see Jeeps in every model, every year; it's a really great way to see all the variety of Jeep models from 1940 until today.”
Lambert said the festival planning committee also focused heavily on getting more food vendors to join the party.
“New this year, we had far more food vendors than we've ever had,” Lambert said.
Those walking the streets could enjoy their eats as they got intimate views of each Jeep, some modified, some with caked mud and some plain unorthodox Jeeps, like the one owned and displayed by Robert Greenert of Butler.
Greenert's Jeep featured a British flag on the front with a steering wheel on what would usually be the passenger side.
Greenert brought the 1952 Austin Champ, the civilian version of a British Army vehicle made by the Austin Motor Co.
There's also a strange tube toward the front of the vehicle, which Greenert said enables it to function while immersed in water.
Greenert said the vehicle is actually pretty rare, and more so in the United States. He said only 11,000 were made.
“Most of them were destroyed in South Africa and Rhine, Germany,” he said. “In this country, we know of about nine that are in running condition.”
Greenert said he's attended the Invasion for four or five years now. He said he was awed by the number of Jeeps that attended this year, pointing out that even an hour into the event Jeeps were still moving along Main Street to find parking spots.
“It's big,” he said. “I think it's bigger than before.”
Harold Hargenrader of Meadville, Pa., and his son Wesley have been to Jeep fest before, but Harold said he preferred this year's event. When there was a parade, he said it offered less time to see the vehicles up close.
“It's a lot different now,” he said. “This way here, we can go right up and check out all the vehicles.”
Wesley Hargenrader, who owns a Jeep, said he enjoys the festival for its insight into Jeep modifications.
“I look at stuff that's more of an off-road Jeep and the custom stuff that they've done custom to it that you can't just buy,” Wesley Hargenrader said.
As the Hargenraders, who were also joined by Wesley's girlfriend, traveled down Main Street, Harold said he could feel comfortable attending the event as a family.
“I wouldn't be scared to bring a 2-, 3-, 4-year-old, and I have seen a lot of people with strollers and stuff too,” he said. “It's nice.”
Lambert said the people in the community create that atmosphere. She said she hopes the event continues to provide a family-oriented experience with fun and entertainment as it continues into the weekend.
She also hopes the weather continues to cooperate.
“We've only had one of the seven years of the Jeep festival that we did not have rain,” she said. “So, I always say my prayers that we have a dry weekend for the Jeep festival.”
