Bus Museum Spring Fling 2021 by Dave Millhouser
The annual bus museum Spring Fling was held in Hershey, Pennsylvania on June 4 and 5, 2021. Traditionally a gathering for those who like old and new buses, this year’s event offered 94 different buses on display. This photo shows a crowd at the museum’s George Sage Annex where buses not on display are stored. CHRIS SCHMIDT.
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he Museum of Bus Transportation / Antique Automobile Club of America Museum’s Annual Spring Fling has traditionally been a sort of homecoming for antique bus enthusiasts and industry veterans for more than 20 years. After a years hiatus due to the pandemic, this years event, held June 4 and 5 under sunny skies at the Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, really fit that description. There were 420 total attendees, very close to the best ever, despite the fact that covid is still winding down.
Friday night featured a “Town Hall Campfire” where leadership discussed the state of the museum and how the merger with AACA 16 • National Bus Trader / July, 2021
Museum has fared. The highlight of the evening was a live music performance by Josh Misner and Dan Wright – both attending the Fling with their Eagle Buses.
Forty-four visiting buses were on display with several coming all the way from California. They ranged from a very rare Eagle 03 model and a one-of-a-kind Mack 40-foot coach to several beautifully-restored school buses. For the first time in recent memory there was a large number of Eagle coaches, in seated, motor home and entertainer configurations. ABC/Van Hool, Irizar, Prevost and Temsa each brought demonstrator coaches,
that offered a unique visual perspective into how far the bus industry has come.
The largest previous turnout of visiting buses was 38 in 2019. When combined with the museum’s historic fleet which has now grown to 50, this year’s visitors could experience 94 buses with technology and styling ranging from 1912 to 2021. Transportation between the main museum campus and the George Sage annex was provided, as in the past, through the generosity of Wolf’s Bus Line. The museum welcomed four newly donated buses with a brief ceremony thank-
