Tractor pull in Lafayette

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

LAFAYETTE -- The scene at the tractor pull here Saturday afternoon was one that's timeless to such events around there area every summer.

Dirt flies out from underneath the spinning wheels of an antique Farmall or vintage Case as its driver tried to pull a skid as far as possible with hopes of winning a trophy for any one of six weight classes.

It's a scene that some Lafayette residents like Mike Haas are hoping will become a yearly tradition.

"We've always pulled and we wanted to get one on our own," he said. "We're hoping it's a success. We're hoping its an annual event."

Like many of the other pullers who showed up for Saturday's event, Haas, who is a former farmer who now drives a truck, often competes at other pulls in the area. Pulls in Buffalo Lake, Sleepy Eye, Le Sueur, Butterfield and the Brown and Nicollet county fairs are popular spots on the local circuit.

Preparations for the Layfayette pull started late Saturday morning as contestants revved their engines for a long day of competition in the dirt lot behind the Lafayette Community Fire Department building on Main Street. The pullers in the first weight class hit the scales around 10:30 a.m.By 1 p.m., the pull was roughly halfway through its weight classes.

Pullers came to Lafayette from area towns like New Ulm, Sleepy Eye and Franklin with tractors ranging in age from 1934 models to a few that came off the assembly line in the early 1960s. Every brand of classic tractor was there - John Deere, Farmall, Allis-Chalmers, Oliver and Case - as you can imagine and the tractors ranged in condition from extremely dirty to tuned-up and polished.

Many of the pullers in Lafayette entered several tractors in several different weight classes. Haas, for example, had four tractors in seven classes.

"It's another chance to get our tractors out and have fun," Haas said. "You can compete, yes, but it's an opportunity to have fun. It's an expensive hobby but it's fun."

The pull attracted some attention away from some softball tournaments nearby. A few of the people in the crowd came to watch their fellow competitors. Others came simply to have something to do.

"It's just something to do on a Saturday afternoon," said one woman.