LIND — Lind held its annual Combine Derby June 10.The event has been a Lind tradition since 1988, and this year’s derby brought a crowd of about 4,500 people to a town of 531.

Fifteen of the harvesting machines, sporting names like “Cornfed Cadillac” and “The Extinguisher,” lumbered onto the field at the arena to duke it out.

“I’ve been at this for a long time,” said Ryan Kulm, of Finley. Kulm’s combine, labeled The Bandit, was painted a foreboding black with a gold bird of prey on the front next to the driver’s seat. “Dad started it and it kind of moved on to my brother and I 15 years ago. We bought this combine over a month ago, because the other one got destroyed last year. So we … tore this one down, and last minute, we’re literally duct-taping it and putting it together.”

Joe Zuger of Walla Walla was driving in the derby for the first time, he said.

“This combine is kind of a collection of friends that pool their resources together and then kind of let buddies drive in alternating years,” Zuger said. “This year was my year. I’ve been coming to this thing for almost 20 years and always wanted to do it.”

The action consisted of three 15-minute heats in which four or five combines all tried to disable each other, followed by a consolation round and a final round. In between there were races of a more conventional kind, for pickups and cars.

The Lind Lions Club has a combine of its own which it enters in the final round. The driver of the combine is chosen through a raffle, the winner getting the option of driving the machine or $500 cash. This year’s winner opted for the cash, said Lions Club member Mike Doyle, so the chance to drive was auctioned off. The winning bidder was Paul Christianson, who paid $1,000 for the honor.

“It’s a once-a-year get-together for friends and family to hang out, crush combines, barbecue, drink some beer and have some fun,” Kulm said.

Joel Martin can be reached via email at [email protected].