Harrisburg Harvest Festival

In early August each year, farmers, locals, and pulling fans from around the Pacific Northwest gather in a field one mile north of Harrisburg, in Linn County. They come to watch tractors and trucks hook to a progressive competition sled and drag it down a dirt track, to see how much weight each machine can pull.

The machines vary widely. The Harrisburg Harvest Festival Association, which runs the event, says a spectator might see a 70-year-old Allis Chalmers, a modified garden tractor, or “a shiny brand-new half a million-dollar versatile.” Locals often bring the four-wheel-drive pickups they drive every day. Professional pullers travel from several states away with modified pulling trucks, some of them, the association says, in excess of 1,500 horsepower.

A Saturday on the dirt track

The 2026 festival ran Friday and Saturday, August 7 and 8, with gates opening at 5:00 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. On Saturday the association posted the day’s schedule. At 3:30 the beer garden, the vendors, and the free kids zone opened, and amateur pullers took the track. The association tells amateurs that if they want to test a tractor or truck, “we can handle anything, including diesels.” Games on the track followed at 5:30. The main truck and tractor pulling events began at 7:00, the hour they start on both nights. At 9:00 the pullers came out for a meet and greet, with “Music by Request,” and the event closed at 11:00. Results, giving distance pulled and rankings for each class on each day, go up afterward on the festival’s Facebook page.

That Saturday was hot. The same afternoon post reported an air quality reading of 73, “far better than the last few days,” and noted that the beer garden was shaded. “This is Harrisburg....so just like our area farmers,” the association wrote, “the event continues on, even when its a tad warm.”

Corn dogs, cowboy candy, and horseshoes

The vendor area sits right next door to the beer garden. A vendor list posted by the association names Renees’ loaded French fries and Paradise Shaved Ice in 24 flavors. Dogs Gone Coastal sells hot dogs called the Aloha Dog, the Puerto Vallarta Dog, and the Drunken Sailor. Boss Hawgs serves brisket and bacon mac, and Smok’n Gingers has pulled pork and smoked mac and cheese. Chef G Food Services offers elephant ears, deep-fried spiral potatoes or zucchini, and a coffee bar. Dos Banditos sells salsa and Bandito Candy, which it also calls cowboy candy. There are funnel cakes and churros at Bea’s Cart, tacos at Lili’s Taqueria, and steak tacos and corn on the cob at Sues Steak Tacos.

The merchant booths sell laser-engraved cutting boards, remote-control cars and trucks, horseshoe art, leather purses and dog collars, and the full Sanrio line at a Hello Kitty booth, including double-lidded light-up cups. KEZI News reported that the vendor village also holds horseshoe tournaments, that live music runs through the day and night, and that camping is available on site for visitors staying the whole weekend. The free kids zone has games, crafts, and other activities from 3:30 to 7:00 on Saturday.

Tools, trips, and scholarships

The association says the festival does good things for the local economy, but its main purpose is to raise awareness of agriculture and to raise money for local Future Farmers of America programs. Sponsorships pay for tools, trips, special classes, and machinery for students. The association also gives college scholarships to graduating seniors from the Harrisburg, Halsey, Junction City, and Monroe areas who go on to study agriculture or a vocational field. Its 2026 sponsors included Hayworth Seed Warehouse, WILCO, and the JC School of Dance. “This event celebrates our agricultural heritage, but more importantly, it invests in the future of farming,” Kurt Kayner told KEZI. “Every ticket sold and sponsor onboard helps us directly support local students pursuing careers in agriculture.”

The festival is a nonprofit with 10 sitting board members and more than two dozen volunteers. Kayner is president, Chuck Scholz vice president, Charlotte Thomas secretary, and Sue Harris treasurer. The listed phone number reaches Harrisburg City Hall.

From 1982, and from Prairie Precinct

The association traces the tractor and truck pull in Linn County to 1982. The event did not run every year after that. In 2013 Kayner, a local farmer and business owner, revived it.

The town is older than the pull by 130 years. Lewis A. McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names (1952) records that the locality was called Prairie Precinct in 1852, when D. and A. A. McCully started a store there. W. A. Forgey surveyed the site in 1853, and it was named Thurston. A Thurston post office opened on December 31 of that year, with Gamaliel Parish as postmaster. The place soon afterward became Harrisburg. A post office spelled Harrisburgh was established in November 1855, and McArthur notes that the records do not show clearly when the final h was dropped. Harrisburg was incorporated in 1866.

McArthur writes that the town was presumably named for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and he does not settle who proposed the name. Some persons say it was Hiram Smith, a pioneer of 1853. Others say it was Asa A. McCully, a pioneer of 1852.