So far as is known, no one said ‘go.’ If they had, it might have been heard as ‘whoa’ by the ears of the old-fashioned horsepower on display at the Francis and Pat Derks Memorial Horse Pull Sunday June 19 at 1 p.m.

With one unit of horsepower equal to the power needed to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in a minute, that sheer strength was on display in three separate events at last week’s Rodeo: an antique tractor pull, a pedal tractor pull, and an old-fashioned horse pull, the last of which saw dust fly and horses snort, the two classes being heavy and middleweight.

Starting out Saturday after 11 a.m. and featuring a number of diuerent machines, the an tique tractor pull on the truck pull track ou the Communi ty Center saw many entrants, measured on both speed and distance. “The antique plow machines didn’t move as fast or have as much smoke as a more modern combustion engine, but they got the job done, pulling what amounted to a plow of steadily increasing weight as they went down the track, slowly but surely. With the pedal tractor pull taking place just after, the sign to end for antique tractors was when the front end went up, a sign that the engine power channeled to drive the tractor’s back axle as it pulled a load, had reached its limit.

Even farther back in time, power-wise, was the horse pull—but not riding horses. The horses at the horse pull were draft horses, with large hooves, large frames, and lots of muscle. Following a wait to try and allow for that had pulled earlier that morning in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin to make it, things got underway around 1:30 p.m., with Dave Peterson announcing.

“”Anyone who wants chicken, you can either go across to the park or at 2 p.m. they’ll come around and you can get it from them,” he said of the nearby Stanley Rod and Gun Club and its Charcoal Chicken Dinner at the Stanley Community Center. Next getting into how the auction betting would work (the top three teams would pay ou on the percentage), Peter son gave the signal to begin.

“Ok, heavyweight teamsters you can get them coming around,” he said of the horses. “We’re going to get started.

With John Wickham and Lumas Yoder passing the first round it was Jason Perry from Chetek with Fred and John to lead things out.—the horses you see, had human names, on more than one team.

With each team given one time to pull and be seen before the betting started, it was on to greater feats.

“Ok, we’re going to add 1,000 pounds and then we’ll start our second round,” Peterson said. A tractor moved in and a concrete block was put in place on the middle of the ‘stone boat’ used by horses and teamsters, bringing the stone weight to be pulled up to 4,000 pounds, or 2,000 per horse. Following each pull Kevin Frese of Premier Livestock in PULLING TIME

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Withee took bids on the team from the crowd, with 17 teams this year in total. Slowiak Masonry and Concrete of Stanley, Peterson Farms of Boyd, and Larry Green from Chippewa Falls each put in a lot of time and euort to make the horse pull a success. By the time heavy and middleweight results were both in, the top two winners for each, were as follows: Heavies Weight class

1st place: John Loomis/Melvin Yoder from Mondovi WI with their team of horses named Jim & Fred 2nd place: John Wickum from Wilson WI with his team of horses named Marv & Andy Middles Weight class

1st place: Josh Wickum from Menomonie Wi with his team of horses named Mike & Dynamite 2nd Place: Alan Grass from Blair WI with his team of horses named Mark & Prince Not to be left out are the many horse pull sponsors who helped make the event a success, including the following: the family of Francis and Pat Derks; Boettcher Farms; Cadott Color Center; Cadott Family Restaurant; Cloverleaf Farm Supply LLC; Corner Auto Body and Repair; Courtesy Ford of Stanley; Crescent Landscape & Supply Inc; Crescent Tavern; the Dave & Matt Peterson Family Farm; Design Built Structures; Done Right Welding; Else Professional Services LTD; Fries Financial Group; Frog Hop LLC; Greener Acres Transmission; Haas Inc; Hank’s Furniture and Carpeting in Thorp; Holland Family Cheese; Humpal Construction LLC; the Huron Tavern; Jim’s Shady Nook Resort LLC; Kevin Frese Auctioneering; Kirt Brown Excavating LLC; Kutzee’s Supper Club; Larry & Debra Sahm Farms; P & B Lumber and Hardware; Pet Pantry Pluss; Quality Truck and Auto Repair; Roth Sugar Bush; Rustic Lanes Bar and Grill; Shelly Finnessey of Coldwell Banker; Slowiak Masonry & Concrete; Spooner Mills of Thorp; The Medicine Shop; The Village Scoop; Thorp Equipment Inc; Terry Maier Trucking; Turenne Auto Body; Wissota Collission and Customs; and Xtreme Precision Auto Body.

“It was a huge success this year, like all other years but this year we had 17 teams of horses, the largest number yet and a great crowd of spectators!” Cindy Slowiak said of the horse pull Sunday and sponsors who made it possible.

Middle Weight horse pull contenders Charlie and Mose were busy eating their hay prior to competition, being entered by Steve Cole and Jimmie Harper. Photo by Joseph Back.