For a number of years, although I don’t know what that number is, something called Jeep Jam has taken place on a farm near Willmington, Ohio. It moved to the Clinton County Fairgrounds this year and that move helped bring the event to the attention of my buddy John who lives close enough to the fairgrounds to hear knobbies spinning in mud pits. The threat of rain had caused a Friday night concert to be canceled but it did not affect the planned cruise-in much if at all. John reported a downtown filled with Jeeps parked for viewing. On Saturday, he and I went to the fairgrounds.

There were vendors selling food and all sorts of four wheel drive related merchandise, and there were Jeeps. Lots of Jeeps. Hundreds of Jeeps. The majority didn’t look all that changed from when they left the dealer but some were clearly experienced and eager off-road machines. This open-wheeled specimen was probably the most battle ready vehicle we saw.

Many of the Jeeps were parked which allowed guys like us to walk by and look them over. Others were in long slow moving lines going somewhere. Some were headed to riding trails both on and off site. Those in the first picture were working their way to an obstacle course which featured the piles of mud in the second picture.

We didn’t study the whole course so can’t say if this was really the highlight but it did seem to be where most of the attention was focused. This clearly wasn’t a super challenge for a Jeep, but it did provide plenty of fun without undue risk.

A concert featuring Molly Hatchet would close out the day, and was included in our $5 admission. Neither of us were big Molly Hatchet fans and there really wasn’t all that much to hold a non-Jeep-owning spectator’s attention until then. A walk to the far end of the grounds and back was enough for us. However if you own a Jeep and wanted to get it dirty, add some accessories, or swap stories with other owners, this was the place to be.