Toy Jeeps, rubber ducks race at festival
WORTH TWP — A cadre of costumed characters lined up at Cooper’s Lake Campground on Saturday, June 10, 2023, for the Barbee Jeep Race at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.
On the hill above them, their rides: an assortment of children’s electric Jeeps, decorated with everything from dinosaurs to candy.
“I was here last year as Batman, and now Batman has returned, because you can’t spell Bantam without Batman,” one of the participants, dressed as — you guessed it — Batman, told the crowd.
Before the starting race, organizer Joyce Appel — representing the Butler Outdoor Club — said the participants would take part in a costume contest.
“That was completely my idea,” said Appel, dressed in a Barbie costume of her own.
Participants also included the Joker, another Barbie, Captain Morgan, Freedom and ‘Merica, an inflatable eagle and sumo wrestler, Cousin Eddy, Ricky Bobby, Cooter Davenport, a “drunk” princess and two characters from the movie “Super Troopers.”