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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-13, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017. PAGE 9. Countdown to IPM `Money Match' attracted 215,000 to Wingham 4Lit WELCOME TO THE INTERNATIO.I k L PLOWING MATCH 1 What an opening day! World-famous astronaut Neil Armstrong was on Plowing Match, which was held just east of Wingham. for that special day. (Courtesy photo) hand to help open the 1978 International Tens of thousands were in attendance Continued from page 8 became a director with the OPA, eventually moving on to be part of the organization's executive. He would serve as the president of the OPA the year following hosting the match, when the IPM was in Chatham -Kent. The challenges he faced as the president of the organization, he said, were completely different than those he encountered as a host of the match. Armstrong said that as the OPA president, he was at least able to focus singularly on the task at hand. When he was the host of the match, he had to look at things three different ways: as a host, at the Huron County level and at the OPA provincial executive level, which made things complicated, he said. Doing one of those jobs, he said, was enough, let alone trying to do all three in the same year. The workload and responsibility, however, didn't deter Armstrong as he continued to rise in the ranks, spending time with the Canadian Plowing Council, eventually serving as its president as well. Quite the site The 1978 International Plowing Match in Huron County is on record as being one of the best - attended matches in the history of the event. As this aerial photograph of the site shows, an IPM tented city sure can transform a farm. (courtesy photo) Again, he said that serving at the national level offered a completely different experience from hosting the match and serving at the provincial level. He would go on to be the president of the national organization from 1986 to 1990 and that led him to serve in a Canadian Coach Judge capacity at two World Ploughing Matches. The first match saw him travel to Amana in Iowa in the U.S.A. for his duties as a back-up judge at his first world match in 1988 and then to Kleppe, Norway for the match the following year where he was the Canadian Coach Judge. He would then go on to judge at several local competitions in the years that would follow. The Armstrongs would eventually move to Bruce County, living between Walkerton and Hanover for a number of years before they moved to their current home just a few kilometres north of Blyth. While in Bruce County, Armstrong was brought on as a member of the executive committee when the match was held near Walkerton in 1993. And while he's been involved with various plowing organizations in prominent positions across three decades, Armstrong insists that his "official" time with IPMs has come to a close. He and Carol hope to attend this year's match, if health allows them, but only as spectators. Armstrong feels the match is important for rural residents as well as those who live in urban areas, which is why he's been such a supporter over the years. While he always viewed the match in a rather progressive way, focusing on not just plowing, but the rural way of life, he knew that plowing would always be the centrepiece of the match. "Plowing is still an important part of the match," he told The Rural Voice in 1993. "It's a skill that can be turned into a competition for people. "It's important that urban people learn about plowing so that when they drive down the road, they don't look straight ahead, but look to the fields and are able to understand what's happening to those fields in order to get a bit of an idea what goes into producing the food that they eat" Book Your Ad Now for the 2017 IPM Issue 35,000 copies in total Call The Citizen 519-523-4792 or contact sales representatives Brenda Nyveld & Heather Fraser e-mail: ads@northhuron.on.ca STILL RUNNING OUT TO FETCH THE PAPER? Having a subscription to The Citizen saves you money Newsstand price - $1.25/week Subscription price - 72¢/week Save up to $2650 a year off newsstand price Yes - I want to save money. Enclosed is $36.00 for a 1 -year subscription Name Address Town Postal Code On-line subscriptions available too at www.northhuron.on.ca Mail cheque & coupon to: P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Blyth, ON NOM 1H0 Brussels, ON NOG 1H0