County Fair Pulling Season in Full Swing
The sun is hotter than ever and the weeks seem longer than usual. The chores continue to pile up and there is no holiday weekend in sight. I suppose that can only mean one thing, county fair pulling season is upon us everyone. The pulling weekend is no longer a thing. Now firmly in its place is the “pulling week” which incapsulates pulls from Tues on thru to Sunday. Some call it a hassle, some call it a blessing. I’m going to guess most in this crowd land somewhere in-between those feelings.
The wonderful tradition of going to your local county fair has been around for decades with some now spanning over 100 years in rich history. Front & center at most of those fairs is non other than the grand truck & tractor pull. Sure, the sights and sounds of these pulls may have changed a tad over the years but the same idea of getting from one end to the other with a pulling vehicle of some sort remains true. And there is one thing that certainly hasn’t changed much with this tradition, a good, wholesome, family outing.
I would venture to guess most pulling fans reading this story all have been to their share of county fairs, either locally or one they have traveled to for a pull or otherwise. It’s just a Wisconsin summer thing to do and when you don’t attend at least one, ideally your own, summer just doesn’t quite feel the same. You, we, us, all wait through that long and agonizing winter to get to the short yet sweet summer months. For so many pulling fans, that also means the county fair. What does it bring with it to the table that makes it so special, take a walk with me.
Now I grew up in Barron County so our fair of course had long been established before I was around and I must say, its one of the better ones. You show up and enter, it’s like an amusement park with all the add-ons the moment you gaze around. From the fair food to the big carnival to the hundreds if not thousands of cars and people, it has everything. You see all the dedicated folks working with animals, to the many vendors scurrying to keep people fed and entertained. It truly is a magical time of the summer but I digress, lets tie pulling into the equation.
(Pictured here is the Barron County Fair which hosts a truck, tractor and garden tractor pull in July)
It’s a weekday, it’s a weekend evening, the day doesn’t matter as much because its the county fair and you get to pull in front of all your local friends and family. You pull into the venue, noticing immediately the massive grandstand that most fairs have and know full well that in a few hours that baby will be packed with 1000’s of cheering fans. You get situated in what is usually a large pit area and take a look around. There is just something to see every which way you look. What a time to be alive, eh?! Show time has almost arrived and you find your way to the starting line. You wait anxiously as the puller in front of you moves ahead a few feet at a time. This is it, the time has come to put on a show in front of one of the larger crowds you’ve ever performed for. Next up! It’s your turn after hours, even days, of hard work and long prep time. You pull that chain tight and the green flag drops. The roar of your machine erupts down the track until you sail past that 300 ft. mark. And the time has come, all that hard work paid off and the only thing you see or hear now is absolute pandemonium from the audience. They say noise or not, helmet on or off, that a puller can always hear that crowd and most defiantly see those smiles. You did it, you made your mark on another great county fair pull.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is why our county fairs are so special. Your hometown hook matters a great deal, as do so many of your other favorites along the schedule. But that county fair, with the aura and atmosphere it brings, often times is unmatched. It’s a time to see friends and family. Its a time to get out and support all the great organizations who make life a little bit better. It’s county fair time in Wisconsin, a tradition rooted deep in Wisconsin values.
