Full economic pull for BG

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (WUPW) - Welcome to Pulltown USA.

It's the championship of tractor pulls, and it can be found this weekend in Northwest Ohio. The event runs through Sunday.

With hundreds of giant tractors and thousands of fans taking part, this huge event will bring in big money to Bowling Green.

But with the current economy, does this year's event mean more to area businesses?

Several regional businesses managers said they've been preparing for this weekend for a while. Some even hired more staff to help welcome the 50,00-60,000 fans that from all over the world for the Super Bowl of tractor pulling.

Terry Andryc with the National Tractor Pulling Championship says all the hotels in Bowling Green are sold out because of this year's 44th annual event.

"In tractor pulling circles, BG is the tractor pulling what Daytona is to NASCAR," he said.

With thousands of participants, the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce is expecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in earnings.

At Ice Cream Machine, employees said the 2010 year's event is going to bring in more revenue than 2009.

"This fourth year in season is finally bringing more people because they finally found out we're here," said Judy Keiser, who added sales are up 25-percent this year.

The cash register is also ringing at Jed's, where employees say it's always crowded during the tractor pulls. They're getting a double-shot of business this August

"We're always looking forward to kids coming back and especially tractor pull weekend," said Kent Borough. "We're always really busy."