Bantam Jeep Festival Organizers Hope To Reclaim Parade Record
BUTLER (KDKA) -- Nearly four years have passed since Jeeps from all over the country made their way down Main Street in Butler.
They set a Guinness World Record: 1,106 jeeps in a single parade.
It only seemed fitting, since the Bantam company of Butler produced the very first Jeep in 1940 as America hovered on the brink of World War II. But now - can it be?
This past Sunday the record was broken as 1,846 jeeps rolled through Daytona Beach, Florida.
"That is our promotional Jeep for the county, for the Tourism Bureau," Michele Sneddon, coordinator of the Bantam Heritage Jeep Festival in Butler, points out a vehicle owned by the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau in Zelienople. "We have the cow to represent farming. The kayak, the fishing rods, the bike."
She says it's one of many Jeeps taking part in the upcoming Festival Parade.
Butler County Tourism is reaching out to Jeep clubs and owners nationwide to reclaim a record they feel belongs at home.
"It doesn't matter what model, what year," Michele Sneddon says. "If it says 'Jeep' on it, we want it to be in Butler for June 12 for the parade. A lot of our fans that have been coming every year, we have people that will come from close by, from other states. They make this a tradition. They come every year. No matter what kind of Jeep you bring, you're bringing it home to where it was born."
This is the 75th anniversary of that first Jeep, a design that helped America and her Allies win the war. But Daytona Beach lures half a million visitors each year. How can little Butler top that?
"It makes it fun, but the record needs to stay in Butler," the event coordinator says emphatically.
For more information on the Bantam Heritage Jeep Festival, log on to: www.bantamjeepfestival.com
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