| Board members and the museum director of the Curran Homestead took a field trip to the Farmington Fairgrounds to see an Antique Tractor Show and Jitterbug Pull on June 27, 2010. Bill Wilkins, who took one of our beginning blacksmithing classes, belongs to a group of jitterbug owners and pull competitors and invited us to come down and see the "pull" and see fellow jitterbug afficiandos. Bill entered his Ford Model AA and 1951 Chevy in the competition reaching the final rounds. The object of the pull is for entrees to pull concrete block weights on a stone sled. Each concrete block weighs 500 pounds. As each round is completed another 1000 pounds is added to the stone boat eventually making for some hard tuggin' for these vintage re-purposed autos and trucks. Amazingly these vehicles can pull greater weights than modern tractors. The 1922 Buick was a testament to this when it reached a pulling weight of 6 tons before reaching its limit in addition to the front end lifting off the ground. One vehicle was more obviously out of the competition and unable to go to the next round of weight when a loud noise followed by oil draining out underneath stopped it dead in its tracks. The Curran Homestead has its own collection of jitterbugs and anticipates restoring them to good working order in the near future; we are always looking for anyone interested in helping us achieve that goal with mechanical know-how, brawn, and much appreciated charitable donations of materials and funds. |
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