LEYDEN — Dozens of tractors will be at Avery Field behind Pearl E. Rhodes Elementary School this weekend for two days of food, games, music and more.
The Leyden Farm Fest, featuring the Bob Cook Memorial Tractor Pull, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. It is back by popular demand, according to organizer AJ Egloff. Last year’s event brought in about 250 people and nearly 60 tractors, enough to inspire him to plan for a second one.
“It’s a good time,” Egloff said.
Tractor pulls will start at 10 a.m. each day. Farm tractors will be featured Saturday, with garden tractors featured on Sunday — the garden tractor pull is new this year. Registration begins at 8 a.m. both days.
Dan Galvis, another organizer of the farm fest, said farm tractors can pull 20,000 to 30,000 pounds and garden tractors, if modified, can pull up to 6,000.
Galvis said there will be a large bounce house, an inflatable jousting area and a bungee run. There will also be food throughout the day, including coffee and doughnuts in the morning and sausage grinders at lunch. He said there will also be beer and wine.
Organizers said the event went so well last year, they were looking forward to making it an annual event. The tractor pulls are held in memory of Bob Cook, Egloff’s late friend. Cook had been paralyzed in a car crash in Bernardston and hired Egloff for tractor work in Leyden from the mid-1990s to 2003. It was this work that instilled in Egloff a love of tractors, and he has collected 34 since then.
Egloff said the local band Hardrive will perform for free on Saturday. The event is free to attend, but donations are accepted and will benefit Leyden United Methodist Church, Leyden Historical Commission and Leyden Recreation Committee.
There will also be a tractor “Show and Shine,” so people can look at and admire various tractors.
Reach Domenic Poli at
dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.