Franklin Equipment held a skid steer rodeo event at its Groveport, Ohio, facility, the Columbus Superstore, on Oct. 9. The competition tested the contestants’ skills at maneuvering a New Holland L225 skid steer loader through an obstacle course while performing a variety of operations.

The event kicked off with qualifying rounds at 8 a.m. with the final round of the competition held at 6:30 p.m. The event included a barbecue lunch served to all competitors and their guests and prizes were awarded to the top five entrants. In all, 85 contestants competed in the challenge. Owen Cooksey of Cooksey Farms took first place, Will Yaple of Down & Dirty Excavating came in second followed by Jon Skogstrom of Clear Cut Tree Company, Jeff Foster of Foster Farms, and Matt Taylor of Blackhawk Trucking placing third through fifth respectively. During the competition, Aaron Buckley gave a live performance at the event.

Founded in 2008 when Gary Gabriel, Troy Gabriel, Tom Richardson, and Tony Repeta purchased the assets of Franklin Tractor, the dealership recently opened the Columbus Superstore located in Groveport, Ohio. The dealership offers new and used equipment sales and rentals as well as parts and service.

Serving customers involved with commercial and residential construction, excavating and grading, agriculture, landscape and forestry, recycling and scrap processing in central Ohio, the dealership has two branch operations, located in Dublin and Newcomerstown, Ohio as well as the company’s new Groveport facility. The dealership serves the construction and agriculture equipment market in Central Ohio and represents New Holland, Wacker Neuson, Coyote and Hudson Bros. trailers, and JLG aerial equipment, as well as attachments and ground engaging tools from Multiquip, Okada, Paladin, Tamco and Woods.