HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-06-27, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 27, 2013
Volume 29 No. 26
SPORTS - Pg. 8Barons manage just one hitagainst Wingham’s Daw FESTIVAL - Pg. 23‘Farm Show’ actorremembers 1972 originalPETITION- Pg. 7De-amalgamation petitioncirculating in Central HuronPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
‘Beyond The Farm Show’ opens Festival
Walton to host 100th International Plowing Match
And the winner is...
While representatives of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association said Huron County offered some of the most beautiful potential sites
for an International Plowing Match (IPM) they had ever seen, it was the community of Walton on which they settled. The 2017
IPM will take place on Jack Ryan’s farm, while there will be an unprecedented level of co-operation from neighbouring farmers,
pictured above, who have all offered their land to make the match a memorable one. Bluevale’s Jacquie Bishop was named the
event’s chair and she has already begun working, planning for the match and forming committees. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
There is a low rumble in the
distance coming in on Highway 4.
It’s not moving too fast but has a
steady pace as it makes its way to
Blyth. This can only mean one thing:
the tractor parade is rolling into
Blyth!
To help celebrate the gala opening
of the 2013 Blyth Festival season
with Beyond The Farm Show the
antique tractor parade and show and
shine will be happening again on the
main street of Blyth, Friday, June 28
at 5:30 pm. This year we hope to
welcome over 20 tractors, some of
which will be driven by Festival
actors and administrators –
including a certain former artistic
director, Eric Coates, and his
beloved Cockshutt.
Last year’s parade was an absolute
pleasure for all those out and about
in the county and right after the
parade at 8 p.m. is the world
premiere of Beyond The Farm Show.
A tractor parade followed by a play
about the farms of Huron County is
a perfect evening out. So, pull on
your favourite John Deere hat or
Massey Ferguson t-shirt and head
out on Highway 4 to Blyth to see
some real metal masterpieces.
After months of research, farm
visits and editing, the collective is
ready to premiere Beyond The Farm
Show this Friday, June 28.
Over the course of five months, a
team of five actors/writers, a director
and an assistant director have
ventured out into Huron County to
visit local neighbours and friends.
Now the collective is ready to tell
their story.
Over the writing and rehearsal
process, the collective visited over
15 farms, a couple of livestock
auctions, a yodelling choir practice
and had a few tractor driving lessons
at McGavin’s Farm Equipment in
Walton. Needless to say, they have a
field full of stories to harvest. For
actor Jamie Robinson, there were “a
lot of highlights.” When forced to
choose among his experiences,
Robinson will always be grateful for,
“being so close to farm animals,
something [he’s] never done before.”
The audience will also have the
opportunity to experience a
closeness to livestock when they
come to see the show. Auditions are
being held across the country-side
and a few animal/human language
barriers are being examined –
audiences will be in for a treat!
For the original collective of the
1972 Farm Show, they left with a
lifetime of experiences and
friendships that still resound with
them today. Now, we have another
group of actors who have had a new
world opened up to them and
memories that will last a lifetime.
Huron County has opened its heart
to this group of willing performers
and this summer audiences will have
the opportunity to see the fruits of
their labour.
Beyond The Farm Show will be on
the Blyth Festival stage from June
28 to Aug. 16 and tickets are on sale
at the box office at 1-877-862-5984.
Walton will be the host
community for the 100th
International Plowing Match (IPM)
in 2017, the same year Canada will
be celebrating its 150th birthday.
The match will take place on Jack
Ryan’s property, which is located on
North Line, just south of Blyth
Road. The Ryan site will be
complemented by the Ringgenberg
family, just west of the Ryans on
Canada Company Road. Their
property will play host to the event’s
“tent city”.
There will also be, says Huron
Plowmen’s Association President
Brian McGavin, unprecedented co-
operation from a number of adjacent
landowners who have pledged to
volunteer their property in any way
they can for the success of the
match.
The announcement was made on
Sunday at “A Celebration of Rural
Plowing” a special event hosted by
the Huron Plowmen’s Association at
the Seaforth Agriplex. The event
honoured the achievements of
national champions Paul Dodds and
Kevin Haney, both from Huron East,
and served to announce the 2017
IPM site.
In addition, the IPM chair was
chosen. Jacquie Bishop of Bluevale
was named the event’s chair. She
said that much like Huron-Bruce
MP Ben Lobb, who was in
attendance on Sunday, she could
relate to the jubilation of being
named chair, but it was short-lived
and quickly replaced by the need to
get to work.
McGavin said Bishop was a
strong leader and when the idea of
chairing the event came up, she
didn’t say no, which, as a salesman,
McGavin said, he knows meant
there was still a chance.
Bishop has been involved with
Huron County agriculture for
decades and has been a 4-H Club
leader as well.
As the Walton site was
announced, Huron East Deputy-
Mayor Joe Steffler told those
gathered that it was quite a day for
Huron East, both for honouring a
pair of national champions and to
celebrate as the host of such an
important event.
“It takes a pretty good
municipality to keep up with Huron
East,” Steffler said. “Wow, what a
day.”
Before the announcement was
made, Huron County Queen of the
Furrow Kayla Bishop, Jacquie’s
daughter who made the much-
anticipated announcement, said that
during the site selection tour,
representatives from the Ontario
Plowmen’s Association were very
impressed with the quality of the
sites.
“They said they’d never had so
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 13
Aitken sets record
Huron County’s track and field
phenomenon Lexi Aitken, from the
Londesborough area, shocked the
track and field community at the
Ontario Federation of School
Athletics Association (OFSAA)
championships in Oshawa earlier
this month, doing something no one
in Canada had ever seen before.
Aitken posted a 58.80-second
time in the 400-metre hurdles Senior
Girls final. Aitken is a 15-year-old
Grade 10 student at St. Anne’s
Catholic Secondary School.
Aitken says she was confused at
Continued on page 14