One-Tank Trip for Sept. 15/12
(c) By Jim Fox
Here’s an opportunity for city slickers to meet up with their country
cousins to see what happens down on the farm.
It all comes together at the
venerable International Plowing Match and Rural Expo marking its 99th year in Roseville,
just south of Kitchener, next Tuesday to Saturday (Sept. 18-22).
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| Visitors to the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo can watch a barn-raising taking place daily. |
As the largest event
of its kind in North America, “we are expecting between 100,000 and 150,000
people depending on weather conditions,” said match chairman David Pyper.
Visitors will be
amazed to see how a huge field of 323 hectares (800 acres) of rural farm land
has been transformed into a massive tented city with roads, electricity and
running water.
The business of the
match includes the plowing championships along the “Queen of the Furrow” contest but events
have diversified over the years into a five-day “giant family festival.”
Working the fields
Getting down and dirty
continues to be one of the most interesting activities at the match.
The Ontario Plowmen's
Association is the “parent” host of the event that moves across Ontario on a
yearly basis.
This is the third time it has
been held in Waterloo Region after matches in 1954 and 1995.
As such, the focus is the
Ontario plowing championships, with the winners in various categories advancing
to the Canadian and then the world championships.
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| Traditional plowing using horses can be seen at the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo in Roseville. |
Plowmen's associations from
across Ontario, various U.S. states and some from Europe will compete at the
match.
The plowing
competition in the fields includes antique, horse, junior and modern plowing
categories.
Over the
years, the original plowing match has grown into a large event that combines
agricultural promotion, local business and tourism and family fun while informing
about farming and food production.
Heave-ho
Visitors to the match can watch
a traditional barn-raising taking place daily by “local community members” in
the antique park.
 |
| Tractor demonstrations and square dancing using the machines are featured at the upcoming International Plowing Match and Rural Expo. |
There will be demonstrations of
antique farm machinery including tractors and implements along with old
vehicles and construction equipment.
Steam-powered
traction engines will be demonstrating plowing and providing rides shaking the
ground as they roll across the field.
Corn shelling,
threshing, baling and oat-rolling demonstrations are also planned.
The antiques’ area
also includes maple sugar demonstrations and walking tours in the bush nearby
with its wide variety of trees and vegetation in the Carolinian forests of
southern Waterloo Region.
The Dodge Rodeo
series comes to town as does the West Coast Lumberjack Show, Aim Hi Canine
Sport Show and Dancing Tractors involving square dancers driving farm tractors.
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| A quilt auction and show are one of the features of the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo. |
In addition, there
is a quilt auction and show, horticultural, artisan, fashion and celebrity
cooking shows daily along with more than 500 vendors.
Taking place in
Waterloo Region, it is also appropriate that an Oktoberfest Festhall and entertainment will be at
the match.
Plan to stay as there’s the
huge RV Holiday Mini-Town, a fully serviced park with 1,800 sites adjacent to
the match.
If you go:
To reach the plowing match, take Highway 401 to
Exit 268, Regional Road 97 toward Ayr. Turn left onto Cedar Creek Road, then
right onto Regional Road 58 (Northumberland Street) and left onto Roseville
Road.
Admission is $17; $5, ages six
to 15; free, to age six; $40, family, two adults and two children.
More information at www.ipm2012.ca; (519)-767-2928
Still down on the farm
- Farm Adventures
are offered on Saturdays and Sundays this month and next at Leaping Deer
Adventure Farm and Market in Ingersoll near Woodstock.
“Learn and Play, Be
a Farmer for a Day” takes place Sept. 22 and 23 with games and fun interactive
programs to learn more about agriculture, said farm owner Julie Budd.
There is also a
dragon theme for this year’s corn maze and a themed menu in the store. www.leapingdeer.com; (519) 485-4795
- On today and
Sunday (Sept. 15 and 16) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is the annual Heritage Farm
Show in Wallacetown, southwest of St. Thomas.
Presented by the
Tyrconnell Heritage Society, it’s held at the Backus-Page House Museum (29424
Lakeview Line).
The show includes demonstrations
of threshing, a working steam engine, farm horses, farmers’ market and historic
farming interpretive displays. www.backuspagehouse.ca;
(519) 762-3072
Jim Fox can be reached
at onetanktrips@hotmail.com
For more One-Tank
Trips: http://1tanktrips.blogspot.ca
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