The Tank Museum in Bovington, as wonderful as it is (absolutely in top 3 of museums for me) is really beginning to piss me off. They are pissing me off because every year they have this thing called Tankfest where they have a bunch of really cool tanks drive around, have a bunch of exhibits and talks and seminars, and show it off on YouTube. It makes me a bit jealous.

It appears to make 'The Chieftain' (he's the main historian fellow for that World of Tanks game if you didnt know) a bit jealous too. He recently interviewed the current curator of the us armys armor collection and asked him about a tankfest USA, and the answer he got was "maybe someday, hopefully. It would be cool, right?"

This got me thinking, are there any american tankfest options out there?

It turns out, there kinda are.

So, in each reply to this initial thread, I'm gonna list all of the american tank fests that I could find, where they are, and how good they look compared to the legitimate thing. If you know of any, list them. Hopefully, this can maybe help some folks find a cool tank related event, and shed some light on some collections that may be worth you time or charity.

1. Tankfest northwest at the flying heritage and combat armor museum.

Hey, this looks like a tankfest! It even says tankfest in the name. I dont know much about it because its on the other side of the country, but it looks the part. The only real downside is a limited collection, but apart from that, this is the best publicised tank fest in the US as of today.

2. The Battle of the Airfield. The American Heritage Museum in Stow Massachusetts.

This is not so much a tankfest as it is a historical reenactment, with a whole bunch of living historians and a few tanks driving around as well. This year however, with the excellent american heritage museum complete and open, they may have a pretty decent amount of armor in action. I know for a fact that most of it is in operable condition. It happens October 16, and I'll be there just to see if it is actually any good.

3. The National Museum of Americans in Wartime Open House. Lokesville Virginia, September 7-8.

This, while being the most obscure tankfest like event, is also looking like the best. Currently, the National Museum of Americans in Wartime hasn't been built, but their armor collection (belonging to the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles) is all assembled, so for 2 days a year for the past several years they have a tankfest. Because the museum exists in name only, and is open only 2 days a year, no one knows about it. However, from what footage I've seen it's actually a pretty cool event, with reenactments, exhibits, and a lot of operational vehicles (they have 38 tanks, and about as many half tracks and wheeled vehicles). Its about a hour from Washington DC. I will also be going to this.