TOLEDO, Ohio — This weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for the city of Bowling Green as people crowd the city for big events including the National Tractor Pulling Championship at Wood County Fair Grounds.
Keith Seiler, director of the event, said they're expecting more than 60,000 people to show up.
"We have seven countries represented here this weekend, actually, five provinces from Canada which is kind of cool," Seiler said. "So it's a large event."
He said there are even people coming from Australia. More than 350 tractors will be participating this year with competitors hoping for a full pull.
"Typically everybody owns their own tractor," Seiler said. "They're building them themselves, it's just a lot of custom work."
Seiler said there will be a variety of things for people to do this weekend.
"We have a lot of events going on throughout the whole day. We have the RC cars or tractors that are built and they will pull a sled out also. Those are also custom built," Seiler said. "We have our museum that's available on the grounds to go through and learn about our history. We've got 57 years of history and more."
And there will be events for youngsters to get an early taste of the motor sport.
"We have a tractor with pedals on, and so they pedal the tractor and pull a sled just like the big guys do out here," Seiler said. "They'll pull a sled and they'll pull a distance and whoever goes the farthest wins the trophy."
Businesses and city leaders said they are also getting ready for what's to come.
George Strata, owner of Sam B's restaurant, said Bowling Green's population almost doubles on the weekend of tractor pull, driving their sales and keeping them busy.
"It's the start of what we call our fall season," Strata said. "And once tractor pull hits we know that from now through the end of the year, we're going to be pretty busy."
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said his office is taking extra precautions to ensure people's safety during such an eventful weekend.
"We will have extra deputies on duty all nights of the tractor pulls and they'll be assigned to the tractor pulls to handle any calls on the grounds and around the grounds," Wasylyshyn said.
The department is also participating in a traffic blitz until Sept. 1, where extra deputies will be doing enforcements to make sure no one is under the influence or distracted while behind the wheel.
In addition to the tractor pull, the Valentis Bowling Green Fall Soccer Challenge is scheduled to bring in dozens of teams from across Ohio and Michigan to the city on Aug. 17 and 18.
Wasylyshyn said people should plan ahead and prepare themselves as there will be a bit more traffic than usual in Bowling Green.