Ashland Fire Department will be hosting the massive Greene County Volunteer Firemens’ Association Convention, next autumn, holding a tractor/truck pulling contest at the Ashland Town Park, last weekend, the first of what will be many fundraising efforts in support of the convention. Among those on hand for the contest were (left to right) Ashland Ladies Auxiliary president Heather Younes, Fire District Commissioner Larry Tompkins, Wendy Slater, Rob Kehoe, Samerna Rion, Fire District secretary/treasurer Stan Fancher, Beverly Mannino, Bob Ferris, volunteer firefighter and Ladies Auxiliary secretary Yvette Lane, and Fire District Commissioner David Montie. “We have a good group of nine people already working on the convention,” says committee chairman Chris Hamilton, including fire chief Jim Garraghan, Randy Sutton, Heather Younes, Diane Cross, Emily Lacomb, Jim Thorington, Richard Tompkins and John Mattice.
“Can’t think of a nicer day to have this, can you?” asked Wes Benson (left) who, keeping with tradition, brought his vintage ice-cream maker to the event, held on a hot, sunny, mid-autumn day. Benson was visited by town of Jewett Fire Department president Bill Miller. Benson received the machine, with its John Deere hit ’n miss engine, as a 50th birthday present from his sister Carolyn. “The original owner had passed away and the ice cream maker was sitting in a corner at an airplane hangar. Nobody knew what it was so I feel very fortunate to have it now,” says Benson, whose regular job is serving as maintenance supervisor for the Greene County highway department.
“Everyone is family when it comes to truck pulling,” said Cooter Cole (center, with sunglasses) joined in the bed of his GMC 2500HD by wife Kelsey (far right), the family pooch Gabriel and extended family members. Cooter was born and raised in South Kortright, currently running his own landscaping business in warmer months and working as a mechanic for the Clark Milk Company in Delhi in winters. “Stuff gets broken during the harvest. I get it fixed and ready for the next one,” Cooter says, noting Clark Milk products can be found in “any little farmstand around here, and all the college kids drink it” at Delhi and in Oneonta.
Tractor pulling “is one of those things that just clicks in you,” says Josh Ernst, joined amid his fleet of John Deeres and McCormick Farmalls by his wife Leslie Ann (left) and their daughter Taylor. “I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen. It isn’t about winning, necessarily. It’s about being with family, the camaraderie, and shooting the breeze with friends you haven’t seen in a while,” says Ernst who grew up on a Washington County dairy farm and met Leslie Ann at Suny Cobleskill.
Billy Yurkewecz (right) lives in Fultonville and runs an auto crushing business when he isn’t hooking his John Deere 4450 to a sled of weights and yanking them for all its worth. “I’ve been pulling tractors for thirty years. I love it and the closeness of family that comes with it,” Billy says, noting his son, Charlie (left) is more inclined toward tugging heavy stuff with his ’89 Chevy “Twilight Zone” truck, a 500 cubes beauty with no muffler which is part of the charm. “You gotta’ let that motor breathe,” Charlie says.
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