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Jeep enthusiasts who enjoy taking their favorite vehicles off-road will find more than a dozen new trails to explore at this weekend's annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.
The Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association, the nonprofit entity that oversees the annual festival, acquired 235 acres of land in Portersville a year ago this month with the goal of developing additional trails for those interested in testing their — and their vehicles' — mettle.
The association had been property hunting for more than a year and came upon the land, part of which once operated as a limestone quarry, according to Kent McFadden, a member of the association's board of directors.
“It was very well set up for Jeep trails,” said McFadden, chairman of the group's trails committee. “There were already some existing haul roads, and we were able to make use of the landscape that was already there.”
Todd Wagner, the association's board president, said many festivalgoers had expressed an interest in having more trails available for the annual event at Cooper's Lake. As a result, the group began putting away money for the eventual purchase, said Patti Jo Lambert, the festival director.“We knew we wanted to have our own property to expand the off-site trails,” she said. “Our goal was to have something close to Cooper's Lake, so it was convenient for the (festival) attendees but also large enough to build trails on it.”Wagner said the Portersville property, which is off Kildoo Road and is about four miles from the festival site, was just what the group had in mind.“When we found this piece and drove on it, it was like, 'This is it,'” Wagner said.“Our organization is so happy. We own this — it's ours.”Neither Wagner nor Lambert would divulge the purchase price of the property, which is located in both Butler and Lawrence counties.According to the assessment offices in those two counties, the transactions totaled more than $771,000.
The land, which previously was owned by Sechan Limestone Industries Inc., has some wooded areas as well as some open meadows. Its diversified topography makes it tailor-made for trail development and off-roading opportunities, McFadden said.Wagner said a larger piece of property might have provided even more possibilities.“But you can do a lot with 235 acres,” Wagner said. “And we are doing a lot there.”After acquiring the property last June, the association partnered with Rausch Creek Off-Road Park, near Pine Grove. One of its owners, Bruce Shallis, helped set up the initial trails.To date, the new property is home to 14 trails of varying degrees of difficulty. Specifically, the property features five green trails, which are suitable for beginners; six blue trails, which are of moderate difficulty; and three black trails, which are the most difficult and require specialized equipment not required on the green or blue trails.Shallis said the property works well for the local association.“It suits the festival really well, because it has a good mix of easy, medium and hard trails,” he said. “The location is good, and the natural boundaries keep it safe and secure.”McFadden said that when some people think about taking a Jeep off-road, they think about riding wildly through the woods, but that's not how it works. Instead, many riders travel no faster than 5 to 7 mph in four-wheel drive low to negotiate the trails and the various obstacles they contain. As a result, it can take two hours to complete a set of trails.
The initial trails debuted at Bantam 9.5 TrailFest, an event held in October in part to give people an activity in the midst of COVID-19, Lambert said.“But we also wanted to use it as a test run to see how our trails held up, what people thought of them and what improvements were needed for Bantam when we would have far more Jeeps,” she said. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we learned some key lessons.”After the October event, McFadden and the rest of the trail committee mapped out additional trail opportunities, then set about turning those plans into actual trails. Upward of a dozen or more committee members worked one or two weekends per month starting in November, cutting brush and removing trees to make way for the new trails.Both Wagner, who lives in the Indiana County town of Saltsburg, and McFadden, a Franklin resident, are longtime Jeep owners, and they enjoy getting out and testing their driving skills. But just as importantly, they enjoy being with their fellow Jeep enthusiasts and volunteering their time.“We have a good time,” said Wagner, who owns multiple businesses and admitted to having a “dozen-plus” Jeeps. “My family and I go and trail ride. We go a week early to help set up. We do everything we need to do, but we do get our riding in.”
McFadden, the assistant director of campus safety at Grove City College, owns three Jeeps; the first one he owned was a 1984 Jeep Cherokee Chief, which he purchased in 1985. He got involved in off-road riding after a friend bought a Jeep Wrangler. He and his family have been attending the Bantam Festival since its inception and have been volunteering for several years.“We really enjoy the whole volunteer aspect, being able to introduce new Jeep owners into the sport of off-roading, whether they want to do something mild, something more aggressive or something extreme,” he said.The Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association isn't just about having a good time outdoors. The group has contributed some $185,500 to Butler County nonprofit groups as of last October; the board meets each fall to determine which groups will share proceeds from that year's festival.“We try to help the community as much as we can,” Wagner said.Although group members are pleased with how their new playground is taking shape, they're not finished yet.The association received a $40,760 matching grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in January, and the proceeds will fund the services of a consultant to study how to best use the new property.“They'll come back with recommendations on what we can do with the land,” said Wagner. “We don't know yet where this is going to go.”McFadden said it's important to study the possibilities before the group makes any major moves.“We want to make sure we do this correctly,” he said. “We don't want to go in one direction when we should be going in another.”
