FINCH, Ontario – This little community northwest of Cornwall is set to become the agriculture centre of North America, maybe even the world.
With just days to go before the opening of the International Plowing Match in Finch, officials held an open house Wednesday for media and organizers to tour the grounds and get a feel for what chair Jim Brownell said is going to be a spectacle that hasn’t been seen in this region ever.
“This is really kicking off the events that will lead up to the match,” Brownell told dozens of delegates under a massive tent erected at the Kagi farm where the plowing match will take place Sept. 22 to 26. “It just doesn’t happen. It takes a team and that’s what this plowing match is all about – teamwork.
“This is the largest event of its kind in North America – in fact it could be the world.”
More than 300 telephone poles have been installed by Hydro One and 19 km of wire have been strung up to power “a little town” said the utility’s foreman Lyndon MacNaughton.
Throngs of people, likely to be measured in the tens of thousands that will include Premier Kathleen Wynne, the leaders of the provincial opposition and perhaps the leaders of the federal parties are expected to visit the plowing match.
Property owners are already getting to work to welcome the influx.
“I’ve see a couple of guys who haven’t cut their grass in two months that are out there cleaning up,” joked North Stormont Mayor Dennis Fife. “This is the biggest show SD and G has ever put on.”
This region hosted the IPM back in the 1930s, and again in 1958.
Today the IPM has grown to the point that as many as 1,200 people volunteered to help with organizing.
“I don’t think people realize the logistics that go into putting on something like this,” said SD and Warden Eric Duncan. “When it gets done there will be a lasting legacy.”
Wall-to-wall entertainment has been scheduled for the IPM, with local and international talent set to perform. As well, dozens of venders have signed on to show their wares on a farming field that has been transformed into a small community, complete with a roadmap and street signs to ensure visitors don’t get lost.
There’s also the plowing match itself, which pits competitors against each other.
More on the plowing match, including a schedule of specific events and a myriad of other information can be found here.
