Monday, Sept. 7th, marked the final day of this year’s Great Geauga County Fair in Burton, OH. It is also the day of the yearly “Kiddie Tractor Pull” event. Rotary has been a strong supporter for the last six years with both volunteers and financial help. This child-friendly event is a national franchise that puts on a youth program allowing kids from 4 to 11 years old to enter a fun program and compete for state and national recognition with others their specific age. The idea is that each age group (ie. 4 and then 5 year olds) use a small pedal tractor which tows a “sled” or weighted trailer down the track as far as they can. As they progress down the tract the weight on the sled slides forward and makes the trailer heavier and heavier and therefore harder to pedal and pull. The stronger and more aggressive kids can sometimes pull it all the way to the end, called a “full pull”. Larger and larger tractors and more and more weight in the sled is used for the older ages with a total of five different size tractors. As you can imagine, the excitement and enthusiasm grows as the tractors get larger, the kids get older and the parents get more and more excited for their offspring. All in all it is an exciting event and makes it hard to tell who enjoys it more, the kids or the parents and adult supporters. Trophies are awarded to each of the top three finishers in each age bracket. These three are given a voucher which makes them eligible to participate in the state level event in Columbus next Aug. 14th. The three winners at the state level are then eligible to participate in the sanctioned national event held in South Dakota. Seeing the pride in these youngsters when they compete and the effort and concentration they put into it is truly enjoyable.
Burton-Middlefield Rotary (BMR) is proud to support this youth event along with our scholarship programs, 4-WAY Speech contest, RYLA program at Hiram College, Endowed Kent State Scholarship, World Community Service seminar in Wisconsin, Interact at Berkshire High School, financial support of the National Honor Society at Berkshire and other youth support; including the Kiddie Tractor Pull; keeps BMR as a leader in youth program support in Geauga County and beyond.
PDG Bob Johnson
Club Secretary - BMR