Youngster, 12, inspired to compete at North Peace Fall Fair with his own tractor

CECIL LAKE, B.C. — A youngster with a potentially big future in farming is taking his shot at the tractor pull at this weekend’s North Peace Fall Fair.

Tractor pulls are a competition where tractors pull a cart or skid with certain weights alongside a track, with the victor being the tractor which can pull it the furthest.

Having just reached the minimum competition age of 12 years old, Tyson Newsham was inspired to compete in the tractor pull when he saw a friend in the event last year.

Newsham has practice on the family farm riding around on a tractor with his mother Nikki Newsham.

“He’s grown up around farm equipment,” explained Nikki. “[It’s] not really anything new to him. But last year at the fall fair, his papa had brought him and his cousins.

“One of his school friends was pulling his chapter at the fall fair. It was enticing. He came home and said, ‘I want to pull a tractor in the fall fair.’”

An avid rodeo participant and hockey player, Nikki says her son is very conscious of his money.

“He likes to save,” said Nikki. “When this spark came about [of riding in the tractor pull], his great uncle said he had an old tractor sitting here at his house [and it] wasn’t running.”

Having brought the old tractor home, Tyson prepared the vehicle alongside his father and grandfather, even purchasing a similar model for parts. 

The 12-year-old Tyson told Energeticcity.ca he was “very excited for the weekend” to be competing in the tractor pull competition.

Celebrating its 78th year, the North Peace Fall Fair will begin on Friday, August 15th and run until August 17th at the North Peace Fair Grounds in the North Peace Regional Park on Rose Prairie Road.

More details about the fair are available on its website.