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CNO
photo by Dylan Knoop - Full pulls were the quest of the day as this
driver was just
one of many who looked to bring home the title at the
fair.
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Two day pulling event
in the fair’s future
Editor's Note: Unless
otherwise noted, all CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop, Starks' 14 year old
grandson
By George Starks
GREENVILLE - “I was totally shocked.”
When Duane ‘Lum’ Edwards, long time voice of the tractor pulls, walked
into the Darke County fair board office just one day before the annual
tractor pulls, he never knew what was coming.
With the events growing by leaps and bounds, seating has been added
over the years to accommodate packed houses. Even with added seats, it
wasn’t enough as many would miss the event due to a lack of seats.
Now, two days of pulling are in the works as the Darke County Fair is
thinking of adding another night of truck and tractor pulls. With the
Darke County Tractor Pullers Association and the National Tractors
Pullers Association heading the now one-day event, the Grand National
Circuit will be the third show in the future.
“I had no idea why I was called into the office,” said Edwards. ”I
never saw this coming. It was 31 years ago when the first pull was held
here and I’ve been involved for 30 of them, missing the first because I
had to work. This is a prestige event with the Grand National pullers
coming in.. We’ve had state and regional/national pullers in here but
when you get Grand National pullers here, that puts you in front of
everyone in the country.”
According to Edwards, a television deal might come with the additional
pulling event.
“RFD TV does some of these events but we don’t have that because it’s
cost prohibitive,” Edwards said. “We aren’t quite big enough for
television yet and the fair board can’t afford that right now. Maybe
somewhere down the line, I can talk to the county tourists folks and
maybe we can get a grant from the state to bring it in,” Edwards
stated. “We draw people in here from all over the country. We just need
more room in the infield for the haulers because we have so many
pullers coming in. I can only imagine what the Grand Nationals will do
for this fair.”
So how will it work?
“We will only have five classes a night,” said Edwards. “That will cut
down the congestion in the infield.”
Two days of pulling requires planning around other things that the fair
is known for, such as harness racing.
“It would be great if we could bring this together,” Edwards admitted.
“But there are other things we need to look at and the biggest is how
we do it and when. If we do a Monday-Tuesday pull, we conflict with
Bowling Green on Sunday. If something goes wrong there, we could lose
pullers and the board understood that. We also have the band contest on
Monday. If we do a Tuesday-Wednesday show, there is a night of horse
racing and the veterans and we can’t mess with the veterans. If we have
to start the pulls a half hour later, then so be it but we can’t mess
with our veterans. They are the reason we are able to have this fair.
They are our livelihood to this country so we will have to work around
that. But this is huge and I can hardly wait to see it happen.”
Alan Washburn, voice of the National Tractor Pullers, weighed in on the
expansion.
“I think it will be interesting because it will give everyone a chance
to see some different classes of pullers,” said Washburn. “If the fans
come for two days, they don’t have to worry about seeing the same thing
two days in a row. The interest is there and this is a family friendly
sport. This is a fantastic fair and they are doing things right with
it. The NTPA is treated very well at this fair and it makes us want to
come back. To bring in a Grand National event would be the cherry on
the icing that’s already on the cake. This will do nothing more than
makes this fair that much better.”
According to Edwards, the board will vote on this in September.
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CNO
photo By George Starks - Long time Darke County fairboard member
Keith Smith waves to
a cheering crowd at the Darke County Fair Tuesday
night during the annual truck and tractor pulls.
Smith has served the
fair for 11 years and announced that he will not be running for another
term due to
health reasons. He was a huge part of the tractor pulls at
the fair and will be missed by all who attend.
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CNO
photo by Dylan Knoop - Duane “Lum” Edwards calls the action at the
annual truck and tractor
pulls Tuesday at the Great Darke County Fair.
Tractor pulling is getting bigger at the fair and may be
expanding to a
two day event soon.
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