CATO - For Perry Smith, of Fulton, the passion for vintage tractors is the same as the passion car collectors display for their vintage automobiles.

“A neighbor got me interested,” Smith said. “And from then on I was hooked. Now I've got six of them, I've become a real collector.”

Standing in the field next to the pull site, Smith was busy fine tuning his 1952 Farmall-M before his weigh in.

Smith was among the more than 100 competitors from all over New York that participated in the Cato Fire Department's annual pre-1960 antique tractor and truck pull.

Sue Montana, Cato Fire Department president, said the pull has been held for a number of years and the department generally holds two every year, in July and August.

With the massive amounts of rain this summer, Montana said July's event was called off half way through.

But Sunday afternoon was nothing but blue skies for August's pull.

“We were sweating that all week,” Montana said. “But it looks like we have a really good day for this.”

The pulls are the department's major fund-raiser for equipment and other essentials for operation, Montana said.

And with this in mind, the department does all it can to attract as many guests as possible.

“It is free,” Montana said. “It is free to park. We sell food and soda and everything, but we get most the money we raise from the entries in the pull. I think the fact that it is free is a big help and draws a lot of people, we need more fun family events that are free these days.”

But Montana believes there is another reason why people come to the tractor pulls.

“They are just fun to watch,” Montana said. “A lot of people are from this area and it is rural so a lot of us have tractors or farms or know people who do and it is fun to come out here and watch something like that.”

Many of the guests agreed with Montana's opinion.

“We come here pretty much every time they do these,” said Mitch Buehler, of Port Byron. “I just like to watch the tractors and the truck pulls at the end of the day, it is a good time.”

Over the past several years, the pull has been growing to include more participants and Sunday was no exception.

Bonnie Wallace, who was working the registration table, was busy through the afternoon as more participants arrived.

“A lot of the departments aren't doing the pulls like they used to,” Wallace said. “So this has been growing for us the past couple of years and today I think we have a really good turnout.”

Matthew Priest, of Martville, was among the competitors that brought his Minnesota Moline tractor down to Cato.

“I like the competition,” Priest said. “I've always liked watching them on TV and stuff like that and that got me interested in actually doing this. It is fun and good competition.”

As much fun as the drivers had, the crowd was just as entertained, watching them battle to see who could drag the most weight the farthest.

“It is just fun,” said Mike Block, of Cato. “It is fun to watch and see who is going to get the full pull.”