Cooper's Lake Campground in western Butler County has something in common with Elihu Phinney's farm in upstate New York. Their point of commonality comes into focus this Father's Day weekend.

As many in Butler County already know, Cooper's Lake, along with the city and county of Butler, plays host this weekend to the third annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.

More than 1,000 Jeeps are coming from at least 25 states and Canada. Jeep owners and enthusiasts — Jeepers, for short — along with their families and friends will flock to Butler County, which is recognized as the birthplace of the Jeep, to celebrate their love for this nimble little vehicle.

Welcome, visiting Jeepers. We look forward to three days of homecoming celebrations. Let's all have a great time.

The festival has grown rapidly — so much so, that promoters have moved it to Cooper's Lake from the Big Butler County Fairgrounds. The move was necessary to expand not only the trails and contest areas but also to accommodate and entertain a growing throng of spectators.

In three short years, the festival has become one of the nation's premier events for Jeep owners and enthusiasts, who celebrate their Jeeps' capacity for work, play and competition.

One could even call Jeep ownership a pastime — which brings us back to Elihu Phinney's farm, better known as Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., the official if not actual birthplace of baseball, our national pastime.

While the factual origins of baseball during the Civil War era are widely disputed, the village of Cooperstown laid claim to the honor, building the 9,000-seat ballpark in 1920 and attracting a major league exhibition game to coincide with annual Hall of Fame inductions. When Major League Baseball ceased that tradition in 2008, Cooperstown replaced it with an old-timers' game featuring Hall of Famers and other retired ballplayers. Now called the Hall of Fame Classic, it takes place, coincidentally, every Father's Day.

Phinney's farm could serve as inspiration for Butler County as its own birthplace festival continues to grow and take shape.

Doubleday Field was not an overnight sensation; in fact, it was nearly 50 years from the beginnings of baseball until the ballpark was constructed; and another 20 years before the first Hall of Fame game took place in 1940.

By comparison, the Bantam GP (general purpose) vehicle was developed in 1940; the monument in Butler's Diamond Park crediting the county as the Jeep's birthplace was erected 20 years later in 1960; and the Jeep Heritage Festival followed that distinction by a full 51 years.

Traditions evolve over time, with a sprinkling of help from enthusiasts, a spirit of opportunism and good old-fashioned hard work.

Could Cooper's Lake become the Doubleday Field of military automation? Why not? Considering that documented facts cement Butler County's claim to the distinction as the birthplace of a legend, it's even more than can be claimed for Elihu Phinney's pasture.