When he received the news that he had won the Northern Maine Antique Tractor Club tractor. Logan Longley (13 years old) scratched his head and said,”Oh ya, I did buy them tickets”.
In the spring of 2016 he bought a $5.00 book of tickets from the tractor club at the Northern Maine Agribusiness Trade Show at the Forum in Presque Isle. He along with his parents, Lance and Lisa Longley of Caribou, picked up the tractor and brought it home.
There was more to the story, however, when it was discovered that Logan has Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE or “skiffy”), a rare hip-joint problem where the ball comes out of the socket. It typically affects 2 out of 100,000 children.
The treatment typically requires surgery where the surgeon will insert one or more screws into the joint to stabilize the area. If one hip-joint requires this corrective procedure then typically so will the other.
Logan’s first hip was pinned at Eastern Maine Medical Center in September 2016 followed by the pinning of the other hip in November. After missing a couple of weeks of school, he went back to Caribou Middle School where, for a couple of months he was wheeled around by fellow classmates as his hip treatments healed.
His family and he decided to join the Northern Maine Antique Tractor Club in February 2017. They would pull their newly restored tractor in as many events as they could this season.
Logan’s tractor pulling debut was Saturday at the Albert Michaud Memorial Park in Limestone. Though he did not win in either the 2,500 or 3,000 pound class he remarked, “It was harder than I thought. I am ready to go back again”.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Teen Age Tractor Puller Makes His Debut,” an article by contributing writer Tom Hale, please follow this link to the BDN online.
