Dugger 3rd Annual Plowing Bee set for next Saturday

PALOUSE - The Dugger Plowing Bee is happening for the third year on Saturday, Sept. 30, starting at 9 a.m. on Banner Road, near the intersection of Banner and Pullman-Albion Road.

Palouse local and now Iowa State University freshman Colby Dugger, 18, is flying back from school to host the event he started.

Dugger said his intended major is agricultural engineering, with an emphasis on power in machinery and a minor in ag business. For Dugger, the hobby of putting on the plowing bee has inspired him to pursue his future career.

The half-day to all-day event brings in vintage tractors and spectators, Dugger said. He noted that they get a lot of older John Deere wheel tractors, which are common to the Palouse area.

"Normally, people stick around until three or four o'clock," Dugger said, noting that they're excited to see the turnout for this year.

Dugger said that last year, they were probably 30 percent larger than the first year they put the event on. "It's a lot of fun. We've almost hit 100 spectators and participants," he said.

Having grown up being involved in plowing bees and going to the local Morgan Plowing Bees, Dugger said he started the event for the opportunity to play with old tractors. "So I decided to put my own on and bring it closer to my area," he said.

Dugger said they'd be plowing barley stubble, and they're going to leave it in the fall and then in the spring come back and prepare it to be planted.

In the future, Dugger hopes to expand the event and start having merchandise, including hats or shirts. Dugger wants to create a scholarship with funds from the event eventually. "I really want to start a plowing bee historical agriculture scholarship someday," he said.

The event will feature Palouse Lion's Club booth selling lunch as in past years.

"Anybody that wants to come out, who knows anything or knows nothing, come out," Dugger said, stating that one of his passions is learning about historical farming and teaching others about it, too.