Graves 'Pulling for Kids' Fundraiser Saturday
By West Kentucky Star Staff
MAYFIELD - The Graves County Truck and Tractor Pullers Association presents its 12th annual fundraiser “Pulling for Kids” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17th.
It takes place at the Mayfield-Graves County Fairgrounds, on the Ky. Highway 121 Bypass. All proceeds help Mayfield and Graves County
children in need to have a Merry Christmas through the public schools’ family resource centers and Graves County Youth Services Center.
Admission is $10 for ages 13 and older, $5 for ages 6-12, and free for children ages 5 and younger.
“As usual, we’re trying to make a little money for the kids,” said Larry Wooley, spokesman for the truck and tractor pullers. “It comes around about this time every year – the third Saturday in August.
We’re going to have basically the same kind of show we ran last year. The only thing we need is a big crowd to make those kids lots of money. In the first 11 years, we made about $330,000. In Graves County, we’ve got the community support that not many places have and we’re thankful for that.”
Wooley and three mutual friends, Kenny Wiggins, Kenneth Wiggins, and Ricky Wilson, founded the organization and event. From the pull’s first year, Wooley remembers,” We were just hoping it would make enough money to make expenses so we wouldn’t have to ante up to cover the costs. Well, at the end of the show, we had a little money left. We didn’t put the show on to make money and so, we didn’t know what todo with it. We put the money in the bank and it’s still in there today. So, that money is in there in case we’ve got to have it.”
The four realized at the time that each had a wife or daughter working in the Graves County Schools. One thing led to another and the result is the Community Christmas Connection fundraiser.
Wooley concluded, “I don’t know how we got blessed with the community we’ve got, but our officials, whether it be school officials, city or county, or the sheriff’s office or Mayfield Police or Kentucky State Police, I haven’t heard a single complaint. When we started, we put up signs that I figured would be taken down soon after, but I’ve been putting them up for years now and they haven’t taken them down yet. So, we take them down after the pull takes place each year.”
The event has drawn statewide recognition. The Kentucky public schools’ Family Resource and Youth Services Centers at its 2017 Annual Fall Institute in Lexington honored the Mayfield-Graves County Truck Pullers Association for its charitable work on behalf of children in need through Mayfield Elementary School and the Graves County School District.