It’s a typical Sunday morning in Wisconsin. You wake up, complete your morning routine, sit down at the table and drink your coffee. But it’s summer and that means pulling season. So there is one other item on the checklist, maybe most important, the weather forecast. You pull up your favorite app, punch in the city or cities you plan to visit the following weekend, and then the prayers begin. Loading, waiting, its always the hardest part. Then comes the sucker punch to the gut, cloudy with a 50% chance of rain showers Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now what?
I recently travelled to Ettrick, WI and the Ettrick Power Pull. The forecast all week was ugly to say the least, leaving little breathing room for an event that was highly anticipated. I frantically check the weather, over and over, expecting a different result. They call that insanity pulling fans, and I think its something we all share when it comes to weather and our favorite sport come summertime. But to quote another favorite, the “hope spring is eternal” so we press on waiting on official word. We shift from the forecast to social media and hopes that the event promoters are seeing a completely different pattern of weather. Hey, it happens! Ettrick was set to take place last weekend, on a Saturday. All day long, it was raining all over the state…except Ettrick. Reports were that they were dry and hopes were high that this event would take place. So when the time came to get on the road, we did just that.
So I like to get on the road and get to the event a few hours early, like many others in this sport. With that, you know you may see clouds, sun, rain, hell, maybe even snow. You just really never know in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. All you know, all you care about, is will we have dry weather right before and during the event. Our drive was two hours, give or take, to Ettrick, WI. It rained the entire trip, I kid you not. As I stated before, now what? You continue your trip, as if driving across a mostly frozen Wisconsin lake, hoping for the best. We arrived and the rain, you guessed it, was done and over. We made it through the prep time, saw 90% of the event classes go down the track and enjoyed a pull that was wonderfully crafted. The rain ended up hitting us hard with one class to go, a fitting end to this day and week.
WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND THE SCENES
There are a lot of factors that go into having a pull, maybe no bigger one than weather. You need it to cooperate for much of the day of an event or the white flag will rear its ugly head. The day of an event can be one of the most stressful times for so many people, none more than the promoter. The event promoter(s) have many jobs but at the top of the list is making that dreaded call to have the pull or cancel it for any number of reasons. So often on pull day, the emotions we all share get the best of us. Fans want entertainment, pullers want to try a new setup, vendors have food to sell. The list of affected people is long. But I remind you once more, the promoter knows all too well how impactful his or her decision can be.
Events are built by community clubs and organized groups who want, sometimes need, these pulling events to happen. Many going to an event may never realize how important your admission is or what your overall satisfaction means to the local club, group or organization. A lot of pulls represent a community’s largest fundraiser for the year. These pulls matter for the dozens who volunteer and the potential dozens or hundreds these good people may help. Your $10 admission can turn into a winter coat for a kid in need or a $15 admission that will eventually turn into food for a family who lost everything in a house fire. These pulling events MATTER.
The day of the pull arrives and its naturally cloudy, what is the promoter to do? I have spoke to many promoters over the years and the wide ranging list of answers varies from “we must make a decision 8 hours before the event” or “we have to give our pullers time to get on the road or turn around with ample time.” Others have said a few hours is necessary or a phone call to the weather service for another opinion weighs on their decision. What most of us “emotional” fans don’t often see on pull day is the very difficult and weighted decision that is made behind the scenes. Promoters want a pull, just like all us fans and pullers. But we all know a decision has to be made. It won’t always be one we agree with, but maybe with more time in the sport we can better understand it.
Most clubs and organizations stay in close contact with event promoters throughout the week and day of. They are constantly talking, trying to figure out what works and what won’t. A big part of the decision is not the weather “during” the pull but before hand. A heavy rain can come through the night before and the morning of, and saturate the grounds to the point its useless. Many pullers come in with large haulers of all shapes and sizes and they don’t play well with wet soil. The same goes for 1,000 pulling fans who have to park somewhere as well. So a decision has to be made. One of my favorite quotes has always been “but its sunshining now during the time the pull would have been happening.” Lets not forget the soaked grounds or that you were asking pullers to drive hours in the rain for an event that was 50/50 at best. A few other factors include that some venues have a tarp for the track, some do not. Some venues drain water fairly well while others could have standing water for a week. I once again bring up that checklist, it can be long and tedious but each item brings with it a challenge that must be dealt with.
IN CONCLUSION
So I guess the moral of the story here is that their is no right answer. There will rarely if ever be a decision on pull day that comes with unanimous fanfare. Some weeks will come with blue skies and sunshine all week while others will keep us guessing to the very last minute. The event crews, the pulling club leadership and the promoters all have difficult jobs. They are jobs few want but yet most want to criticize when a tough decision is made. Ask a promoter sometime after an event has passed how fun it was to cancel a pull and you won’t find a smile anywhere or a look lacking stress. Truth is, its the part of the sport that no one wants to deal with but we depend on all these great folks to make an informed decision that will best benefit the most people. That means bringing everyone together for a safe, family friendly event or telling all us fans and pullers to stay home to avoid a wasted trip or possibly dangerous weather.
A lot of these folks have been doing this for a long time, they know better. And to add to that, they know a decision on pull day has to be made and they make them, right or wrong. To all the promoters, organizations and pulling clubs, thank you for doing what you do. We don’t always have to understand your decisions, but we should respect them for the betterment of the sport.
This article is an opinion piece and written from one’s own point of view. This article does not reflect the opinions of everyone in the sport. All feedback and/or comments are welcome. Thank you for reading.