LEYDEN — At this year’s new event, Heartbreak of the Hills, tractor owners and drivers from across Western Massachusetts gathered for a tractor pull and accompanying events.
Despite ending the festival early on Sunday for rain, Saturday’s events were so much of a success that organizers are planning to make it an annual occurrence.
AJ Egloff, one of the event’s organizers said the event started through a combination of ideas, mainly that many in the nearby tractor community had made suggestions about a tractor pull in the Leyden area.
“A bunch of us were saying, ‘Why don’t we have a tractor pull close to home and invite our friends?’” he said.
Egloff got involved in tractors when he was working for a local farmer, Bob Cook. After Cook passed away, Egloff acquired some of his tractors and used them in tractor pulls, parades and plowing.
So he and others started planning. The two-day festival included a tractor pull, tractor showcase, music, food and a bounce house for kids on Saturday.
Egloff said he was happy with how many people turned out for the first-time event, saying it had been successful and that he plans to continue it.
“We’re looking forward to doing this next year and expanding on it,” he said.
Going forward, organizers plan to call the weekend the Leyden Fall Farm Festival, and refer to the pull as the Memorial Bob Cook Tractor Pull.
The event benefited the Leyden Methodist Church and the town’s historical society.
“It was a really successful event,” Egloff said. “Everyone was just hanging out until the end. It was just a great time.”
He said the local tractor community is close-knit, and there were a total of 70 tractors from as far as Northampton and Vermont at the event, with 47 of those entered in the pull.
“It couldn’t have went any better as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
Reach Miranda Davis
at 413-772-0261, ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.
On Twitter: @mirandardavis