It’s a Bartholomew County 4-H Fair competition that brings the generations together.
Sunday’s Bartholomew County 4-H Fair Antique and Garden Tractor Pull had only about 35 people in the grandstands watching, but as many as 100 family members of competitors, from grandparents to kids, were in the grandstand infield at the event to cheer on loved ones.
“My grandpa — my dad — and I have all enjoyed competing,’ said Yancey Murphy of Elizabethtown. On Sunday afternoon, Murphy was watching his two sons — 16-year-old Daniel and 11 year-old Joel — pulling weight on tractors in several different classes.
Daniel Murphy, who attends Columbus East High School, said this is just his second year participating in the competition with his father.
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“It’s like any other sport,” Daniel Murphy said. “You have to know what you are doing and have a game plan.”
Strategies include track positioning, gear selection, speed, weight distribution — and even air pressure in the tires, his father said.
In Sunday’s competitions, the top prize for most events was $100 for first place, $60 for second, $40 for third and $20 for fourth. While most participants agree the purse never quite covers all expenses, there is also a consensus that money isn’t the big draw to compete.
What’s more important is the healthy form of neighborly competition it creates where the most valued prize is bragging rights among friends, Yancey Murphy said.
“We’ve had bragging rights over friends some years,” Murphy said. “We’ve also had them held against us. But there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s all part of the fun.”
One veteran of Sunday’s competition was Randy Marsh, who has been participating in the tractor pulls since 1975. These days, Marsh says one of his greatest joys is helping and encouraging his 15-year-old daughter, Holly Marsh, when she competes.
It was in the early 1980s that a 10-year 4-H club member — Debbie Schroer — cracked the glass ceiling by becoming the first female in Bartholomew County to compete against the guys in the tractor pulls.
As she watched her daughter, Jeanne Lienhoop, compete Sunday, Schroer said she’s glad other women have followed the lead she set almost 40 years ago. However, it was never her objective to make herself a trail blazer or trend setter, Schroer said.
“I just looked at it as another 4-H competition that seemed interesting to me,” Schroer said.
A number of women are following Schroer’s lead.
“I just didn’t want to let the boys have all the fun,” said Jackie Arnholt, one of the first female members of the Columbus East High School FFA chapter, as well as a 4-H Tractor Club member. “I wanted to show them women are capable of doing whatever we want to do.”
Arnholt’s sister, Gina McGaha, said her competitive nature helped her win a number of tractor pull competitions over a six-year-period.
“I did lose a boyfriend because I beat him, and he did not take it well,” McGaha said. “But that’s okay, because in the end, I got the trophy and the money.”
Family members say McGaha feels she needs to share a victory in the year 2000 with her son, Garrett, because she was just one month away from giving birth to the boy when she won.
Garrett McGaha, who has done well in tractor pulls competitions himself, was recently accepted into the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.
One of the event’s organizers, Mark Mensendiek, said the fair tractor pull takes him back to 1965, when he and his father worked together at the very first tractor pull held at the fairgrounds south of Garden City.
Mensendiek sent out a tractor with a sign stating “in memory of Frank Burbrink” on Sunday. Burbrink was his cousin who was an avid 4-H member and tractor pull competitor until he was killed at age 18 in a May 2007 automobile accident.
The good news is that new legacies are being created at the event all the time. Brandon Horton, 21, said this is the very first year that he has worked with his father, Larry Horton, to compete in a variety of tractor pulls.
“I just love doing this with my dad,” Brandon Horton said.
“Doing this with my son makes for a good time,” his father said.
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7 to 11 a.m.: 4-H Sheep, Beef, Starter Calf & Dairy steer check-in.
9 to 11 a.m.: Open Class Flowers entries due, Family Arts Building
9 to 11 a.m.: 4-H Flowers, Beekeeping, Crops and Gardening check-in.
1 p.m.: Lil’ Wrangler Swine Show. 4-H Gilt Show, as well as Open Carcass, will follow.
5 to 10 p.m.: Lil’ Hands on the Farm, as well as Community, Family Arts and Commercial buildings open
5 p.m.: Midway opens. $1 per ride
5:30 to 6 p.m.: Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest, Farm Bureau Building (registration at 5 p.m.)
6:30 p.m.: Horse & Pony, Open Arena
7 p.m.: Columbus Clogging Company, Farm Bureau Building
7 p.m.: Columbus City Band, David Boll Theatre
7 p.m.: Columbus Speedway Go-Carts, Grandstand
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8:30 to 9:30 a.m.: Market Lamb weigh-in, Livestock Barn
10 a.m.: 4-H Barrow Show & Showmanship, Pavilion
2 to 4 p.m.: Children and adults with physical or mental disabilities can ride free. Midway is closed to public.
5 p.m.: Lil’ Hands on the Farm, Community, Family Arts and Commercial buildings open.
5 p.m.: Midway opens. Canned Goods Night. One free ticket for each can of food, or unlimited rides until 10 p.m. with $23 wristbands.
6:30 p.m.: Horse and Pony 4-H Fun Show & 4-H Costume Class
7 p.m.: Blacksmithing Demonstration, Heritage Building
7 p.m.: Frog Jumping Contest, Farm Bureau Building (registration begins at 6:30 p.m.)
7 p.m.: Chordlighters (Barbershop Quartet), David Boll Theatre
7 p.m.: UMRA King of TQ Midgets – Grandstand
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For more photos and coverage of the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, visit therepublic.com
To learn more about the fair, visit bartholomewcountyfair.com.
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Have a photo you want to share with the community about your visit to the fair? Share it with The Republic.
Send photos to [email protected] and include names of those in the photograph. We’ll add the photos to our photo galleries from the fair at therepublic.com.
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