Farm machines thrash it out at Lind Combine Derby

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.”