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The festivities will begin with a Star-Spangled Banner salute at 11 a.m. and are scheduled to wrap up around 3 p.m.
John Vance head of marketing Art Hyde was blown away when he saw jeeps lining up on I-35 waiting to get into the first Midwest JeepFest.
“We had jeeps from Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri certainly all over Oklahoma,” Hyde said. “When you come up with an idea or create a promotion, you really don’t know what the results are going to be in terms of attendance and all that. It was mind blowing to see all those Jeeps.”
Midwest Jeep fest is returning to Guthrie Saturday, Sept. 4 for its fourth installment. It is an event everyone can enjoy, and all proceeds benefit Oklahoma’s Paralyzed Veterans of America.
“(To the Vance family) this is just a community thing,” Hyde said. “You’d think that they would say ‘Oh, we’re going to sell a lot of Jeeps.’ That’s not their deal, they want to be involved in the community they really care. It’s just a fun thing that they enjoy doing. Their heart is really in this.”
The festivities will begin with a Star-Spangled Banner salute at 11 a.m. and are scheduled to wrap up around 3 p.m.
One of the highlights of the event is the Jeep obstacle course. Hyde said this year the track will be larger than in years past. Boulders, telephone poles and hills will be added to spice things up.
For those unwilling to brave the course, or maybe too young to have a driver’s license, there will be a crawler track for remote control vehicles.
Additionally, the PVA is providing special chairs made for difficult terrain. JeepFest attendees will be able to give the customized wheelchairs a test run on a specially designed course.
“These look kind of like a wheelchair with a (tread) on the sides and they will go just about anywhere,” Hyde said.
Food trucks will be at the site including Stacy’s Place, Wicked Hangry and TomTom’s Snow Shack.
The Oklahoma University Sooner Schooner ponies and personnel will be in attendance. People will be encouraged to take photos and see the ponies up close.
Of course, there will be Jeeps galore at the event.
“If you show up you will see just about every type of jeep you could imagine, some will be from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and some will be brand new,” Hyde said. “If you’ve got a 1945 post World War II jeep, it’s welcome. And in the past, we’ve had some pretty funky jeeps show up at the course.”
JeepFest is certainly about supporting a worthy cause while having a family fun day on the off-road course or rock wall, but more importantly it is about people.
“Jeep owners (and) jeep enthusiasts are amazing people,” Hyde said. “I don’t own a jeep, but I’ve met many of these people and they are fun, they’re family oriented, they’re just really proud of their jeeps.”