Congratulations to the 2025 Buckeye Cub Tug Winners! A huge shoutout to Perry DiFranco of Jackson, Ohio, the overall winner, and Michael Miller of Wellston, Ohio, the youth winner. We completed 73 hooks in record time during triple-digit "feels like" weather and finished just before the rain.
Bonnie and I want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone for making the 2025 Bigdog’s Buckeye Cub Tug “The Homecoming” a resounding success. Can you believe it’s been 20 Cub Tugs? We hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did.
This year, we had participants from 11 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Ohio. If I missed a state, please let me know. I tried to say hello to everyone, but I know I missed a few folks.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible help and guidance from Darrell and Janet Ratliff. They spent many evenings and weekends helping us prepare and were here the entire week of the event. We would also like to thank John, Sheri, and Mikey Ratliff. John is a wizard in the kitchen, and it would be impossible to feed everyone without him. Thanks to Derek and Symon Howard for pitching in on the griddle and helping with meals. Thanks also to Lisa Seagro and Karen Curry for volunteering for “Noodle Day,” and to Jane King, who does everything from running errands to jumping in wherever she sees something that needs to be done. Special thanks to McCauley Farms for donating eggs used for everything from noodles to the Saturday morning Mongolian Omelet bar.
Special thanks also go out to Bill Weisbrodt, who logged many hours mowing to make the place look presentable, and to Tootle’s Karaoke for providing the Friday night entertainment. Thanks to Sara Simmons and Kevin Key for providing the Saturday evening entertainment. And a big thank you to my neighbor Jeanne, who puts up with me all year and then comes over and works her tail off during the Buckeye Cub Tug.
Thank you to Arthur Little of The Flagmen Woodshop for donating the wooden flag that was raffled off for the Kidney for King fundraiser and to everyone that purchased tickets.
We would also like to thank the Village of Somerset and the Somerset Memorial Park Board for letting us use the park and the pulling track; Matt Snider for preparing the track; Southeastern Ohio Garden Tractor Pullers Association and Greg Myers for donating the pulling sled; John Martin for providing the pullback tractor; Mack Seagro for setting up the track side sound system; the Snider Family, Gene Bailey, and the rest of the crew on the track. Christopher Ames was johnny on the spot doing anything that needed to be done.
We also want to thank the Sheridan Soccer Club for providing the trackside lunch. And of course, none of this would have been worth doing if folks didn’t show up and bring their Cubs. Thank you for coming and making it a fun weekend.
We look forward to seeing everyone again on July 24 & 25, 2026 for the 21st Bigdog’s Buckeye Cub Tug.
Doug & Bonnie
