Standing in a field surrounded by dozens of 40-foot power poles, hundreds of lineworkers, and thousands of spectators, Eversource Energy linemen Bob Michaud and Jason Henley looked and spoke as if they’d just wrapped another day at the office.

In some sense, they had.

“We did pretty well this year,” said Michaud, underselling his and Henley’s ability to scale power poles to retrieve eggs, place them in their mouths, and descend without cracking them more quickly than any of the roughly 300 teams they competed against in mid-October at the 41st International Linemans’ Rodeo.

The annual gathering in Bonner Springs, Kan., celebrates the lineworking trade and the more than 100,000 brave men and women who build and maintain America’s energy grid as electrical lineworkers. A group of 19 investor-owned electric companies sponsored this year’s event, and they and many others regularly send their best crews.

Teams of lineworkers compete in a series of skills challenges—including the pole climb, or “egg climb,” and the hurtman rescue, in which lineworkers retrieve suspended manikins to simulate assisting an injured crewmember. Contestants also compete in a series of mystery events that aren’t revealed until the night before the rodeo.

“The weather played in our favor. It was a nice warm day, maybe a little too hot,” Michaud said following his and Henley’s first-place finish in the pole climb. “Thank God it didn’t rain. We’ve had that in the past. We’ve had freezing cold weather. That all plays a part.”

Michaud and Henley have 42 years of collective experience between them maintaining energy grid infrastructure and 30 trips down to Kansas for the International Lineman’s Rodeo. They were far from the most senior lineworkers competing for bragging rights and recognition at the annual post-rodeo banquet. But, they were hardly the youngest, either, with apprentice linemen in their 20s also testing their mettle against peers from across the United States and Canada.

“This rodeo is a celebration of a craft that many would never venture into,” Virgil White, a distribution line construction supervisor at Evergy, said to rodeo participants during the opening ceremony. “Life literally is energized by the work provided by each one of you.”

‘We Do This Work Every Single Day’

Adam Beene, a restoration field operations manager with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), competed in his 12th rodeo over the weekend. He and many other participants attended company-specific or regional rodeos earlier in the year to qualify for the International Lineman’s Rodeo. Interest in competing is high among lineworkers, competition is fierce, and team spots are limited.

Although there’s some practice associated with individual events, Beene stressed that there isn’t much competitors see at the rodeo that they don’t see out on the job.

“What we do every day is great training. We do this work every single day as linemen building and maintaining powerlines,” Beene said.

Beene joined PG&E 24 years ago, describing lineworking as a “great trade that’s been really good for me and my family.”

“My grandpa was a lineman. My dad was a lineman. My brother is a foreman. Combined, we have something like 150 years total service in the field as linemen working for PG&E,” Beene says. “It’s a lifesaving service that we do. We keep society going.”

Those familial ties are common among lineworkers, adding to the sense of pride and tradition associated with the job.

“My father-in-law worked on a line crew. I found it very interesting, because I like working outside and working in the elements,” says Sandy Barnhill, a 37-year lineworking veteran and distribution engineering manager at Duke Energy. “If you love helping people, helping your community, and being an integral part of your community, this is a great career.”

Barnhill and others note that, although the rodeo is meant to be a fun and informative display of skill, the work is not easy, and the risk of injury is ever-present.

“Anybody that gets into this trade, if you have a passion for linework, you’ll excel. But, make sure you have the passion for it. This is a deadly job,” says Eversource Energy’s Michaud.

To drive home the emphasis on safety, judges at the rodeo watch contestants closely and deduct points if they perform maneuvers deemed to be unsafe.

“What makes anyone good at this job is safety. That is the most important thing,” says Chad Guthrie, director of distribution construction operations at OG&E. “There are years of training, and it’s not just training that happens one time early in your career. It happens constantly throughout your career.”

‘Today, We Have Focused on Today’

Barnhill, whose Duke Energy team placed first in the 45-and-up senior division this year, first attended the rodeo in 2001 but hasn’t made it every year. Based out of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., near Raleigh, Barnhill and his colleagues are regularly called when storms strike the East Coast, which isn’t uncommon this time of year.

That was the case in 2024, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated portions of Duke Energy’s service territory and the broader East Coast. Instead of traveling to Kansas, Barnhill and his colleagues were focused on recovery and restoration, particularly in western North Carolina, where storm damage was catastrophic.

“We worked all in the mountain zone, around Spruce Pine, Burnsville, Asheville, back towards Black Mountain. The devastation that was there was mind blowing—something like I had never seen,” says Barnhill, who grew up in the Asheville area. “I’ve worked storms my whole career, going all the way back to Hurricane Hugo in 1989. This one was more impactful than anything I had ever seen.”

An army of more than 50,000 workers from all over the United States and Canada deployed to the Southeastern United States last year to assist the response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Crews spent weeks—in some cases months—helping communities rebuild following the storms. Those efforts and the devastation those crews worked through was still top of mind for many in Kansas.

“Today, we have focused on today. We have been ecstatic over the course the hurricanes and storms have taken this year,” says Barnhill, noting that this has been a quieter storm season on the East Coast.

Mutual assistance work is a hallmark of the lineworking trade, and, although they work in dangerous and difficult conditions, many lineworkers develop friendships over the years that they’re able to spark up again at events like the rodeo.

“You get all the companies out here that you go to work with during storms and hurricanes. There might be times you meet people during storms or at other events, so there’s a lot of camaraderie here,” says Chris Bristol, an OG&E manager of distribution construction. “There’s a little bit of trash talking that goes on. But, it’s all camaraderie.”

‘It’s a Big Family’

Todd Scheitel, a MidAmerican Energy transmission and distribution construction manager from Council Bluffs, Iowa, pulled into the parking lot of the rodeo grounds at 4:15 a.m. the day of the competition.

“We started cooking breakfast to get meals ready for all the competitors, the support staff, the family members,” said Scheitel, stepping away from the grill he would later use to cook a lunch of hamburgers and bratwurst for the MidAmerican Energy group and the broader team from parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Scheitel is a former rodeo competitor who attended his first event in 2003. He’s now one of hundreds who travels to Kansas each year in a support role, helping handle food and logistics for lineworkers competing in what many of them consider to be their Super Bowl.

“My favorite part of this rodeo is the camaraderie, the family, the friends. There are some guys who I only get to see this time of year,” he said. “To see the guys I used to work with, climb poles with, do transmission and distribution work with, it’s fun. It’s a big family.”

It’s a big family event, to be sure. Many companies encourage lineworkers to bring their loved ones to join in the festivities and get a front-row seat to what they do on the job. There are hayrides, bucket truck lifts, and children's events throughout the day to keep what could be the next generation of lineworkers interested and entertained.

“A good part of the rodeo is that you get to show the skills you learn on the job. The best part of the rodeo is that your families get to see what you do every day,” says OG&E’s Bristol. “There’s such a family atmosphere here. You’re competing to show that you’re better than everyone else. But, your family gets to see it, as well. That’s the best thing for me.”

As rodeo competitors, judges, support crews, families, and spectators began packing up for the day, Eversource Energy’s Henley stood in front of the poles he and Michaud had successfully scaled earlier that day.

Henley speaks with humility—until asked about his son, a 21-year-old overhead lineman apprentice in his first year on the job.

“Every day he comes home, it’s great conversation. We get to talk about what he did, and it brings me back to when I was an apprentice,” Henley says.

Henley’s son was not at the International Lineman's Rodeo this year but has recently competed in smaller rodeos. “I think I was more nervous than him” during his first event, Henley says. “He did a great job.”

“I just want to put my stuff on and go climbing with him. He’s doing his thing and working his way up, and I hope he does just as well or better than me,” he says.

Executives from Eversource and their partners break ground on the Greater Cambridge Energy Program substation project in January. (Photo: Eversource)

In late January, Eversource broke ground on a $1.8-billion project in Cambridge, Mass., that, upon completion, will include the largest underground electrical substation in the United States.

The Greater Cambridge Energy Program substation will occupy 35,000 square feet and feature eight new 115-kilovolt transmission lines, which will span more than 8 miles and power portions of Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, and surrounding communities. The facility will be more than 100 feet underground at the site of a former parking garage and underneath what will be a new public green space.

“By taking a collaborative approach with the community and local leaders, this critical energy infrastructure meets several needs for our customers and the region’s energy supply while helping to enable the clean energy transition,” said Eversource Chairman, President, and CEO Joe Nolan.

By placing the facility underground, Eversource hopes to minimize its footprint within the city while enhancing grid resilience and insulating lines from above-ground threats such as extreme weather. Eversource has spent years designing the facility and conducting community engagement efforts with customers, local leaders, and other stakeholders, having started public outreach efforts in 2019. The company has since partnered with the city of Cambridge, the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, and real estate investment company BXP to bring the project to life.

“This region is experiencing a surge of new residential and commercial development, while at the same time moving away from fossil fuels. This generates a growing demand for a reliable electrical grid,” said Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang. “The Greater Cambridge Energy Program helps address the increased energy needs in the region, enhance the resiliency and reliability of the grid to reliably serve customers in our community, and support the decarbonization goals of both Cambridge and the Commonwealth.”

Eversource designed the substation to help meet the needs of customers now and in the future, particularly as the economy continues to electrify. For example, the company estimates that the substation will allow it to handle all of its East Cambridge residential customers who are converting their traditional heating systems to electric heat pumps while cutting the area’s reliance on natural gas in half.

“The Greater Cambridge Energy Program is a creative solution that helps shape a more sustainable and resilient energy future for our customers,” said Nolan.

The undergrounding of substations is not a new concept in the United States, with the first such project opening in Anaheim, Calif., in 2006. Upon its completion, the Cambridge substation will be more than twice the size of the underground substation in Anaheim.

Eversource anticipates that it will be able to operate at least some of the facility by 2029 and that it will be fully operational by 2031, creating and supporting an estimated 500 full-time jobs.