The Comal County Fair continues the weekend of Sept. 25-26 at the fairgrounds at 701 E. Common Street in New Braunfels.
Billed as the largest county fair in Central Texas, it includes a carnival, livestock show and rodeo, kids events and an antique tractor pull competition that runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Shane Lipke is chairman of the pull. He said tractors must have been built in 1960 or earlier and drivers in different divisions win by dragging a heavy sled the farthest. They measure the distance digitally.
"We've got a digital scale or digital readout on the sled and we have one at our announcer table and we have a big board at the end of the track that the crowd can see, showing the footage that they are going," Lipke said.
He said the competition starts with a sled weight around 2,600 pounds and by the peak of the event that weight can be as high as 13,600 pounds
Lipke said between 60 and 100 tractors compete in the event each year. The divisions are based on tractor type, such as stock, or whether a tractor has been modified a little or a lot. Rarely has a tractor engine been blown pulling the sleds.
"Most of them are not running fast enough to really blow up. We've had some do it before, but typically they don't blow 'em up out here," he said.
The fair ends each night with live music shows:
Friday, Sept. 24
Time: 12:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Act: Local High School Bands
Time: 7:30p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Act: Battle of the Band Winner opening for Shenandoah
Saturday, Sept. 25
Time: 5 p.m.–1 a.m.
Act: Gary Glenn opening and closing for Cody Wayne Band and Coffey Anderson
Sunday, Sept. 26
Time: 6–10 p.m.
Act: Jeremy Richards Band
Admission is free for children 5 and under, $5 for children 6-11 years old and $10 for anyone 12 years old and over.
