Village Squire, 1978-09, Page 6to inspect the four farms and in November, 1974 the Armstrongs
were notified they had been chosen as the hosts to the 1978
match.
At first, of course, the planning was all long-term and
comparatively leisurely. But from about January 1. 1978 says
Carol Armstrong, "the phone has never stopped ringing."
Jim started his preparations early. He took a public speaking
course so he could feel more comfortable expressing himself in
front of people. He got plenty of practice as he's spoken to all
kinds of groups from Women's Institutes to Lions Clubs and
Federations of Agriculture. He is also a director of the Ontario
Plowmen's Association, only the third host farmer to hold the
dual role.
Carol too is heavily involved. She's chairperson of the
committee planning the ladies program for the 1978 event, a
program that is bigger than ever.
On the farm itself, much of the load has been taken off Jim and
Carol by their family, one son and four daughters. You see, the
family not only owns 300 head of cattle on their 425 -acre farm,
but they also run a fleet of 13 school buses and operate a farm
chemical dealership.
The cropping schedule had to be adjusted for the land to be
used for the site was seeded down with a good growth of
alfalfa -grass sod which will best stand up to the rigours imposed
by the heavy traffic. They were able to take early cuttings of the
match site land but had to have his second cutting off by August
1. The site mist be available for the' match from August 1 to the
end of October. •
The Armstrongs play down the possibility of damage to their
land. They visited other former sites before making their
decision to go after the match, and found no evidence that the
match had ever been there.
But a lot more people than just the Armstrong family are
involved in the event, and there's a lot more to worry about than
just the land to be used. The problems of setting up a match and
hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors are horrendous.
JUN1UIN1III
Hope to see you at
The Plowing Match
where we will be featuring our
Galbransin Organ
Playing daily for the
FASHION SHOW.
PULSIFER MUSIC
Seaforth Phone 527-0053
CLOSED WEDNESDAYS
Take the problems of George Underwood for example. He's
the man in charge of finding accommodation for the match goers.
Often this isn't a major problem. Last year, for instance, the
event was held just outside Kingston which had plenty of
accommodation easily available, particularly as it was the end of
the tourist season. But Wingham and Huron county are a
different kettle of fish.
With no large urban centre nearby, hotel and motel
accommodation is hard to come by in the area around Wingham.
There's one motel in Wingham and a sprinkling of hotels and
motels within a 20 mile radius but nothing like the amount
needed. Some of the major equipment companies who were at
the I.P.M. in Walkerton in 1976 and knew what to expect in
Wingham, took no chances. They booked the accomodation they
required right after the 1976 match for 1978. A survey of hotels
and motels in the area showed that by last Christmas, most had
been booked solid for the Plowing Match week. Some of the big
machinery companies who will have personnel on the site for the
whole week or longer, have had to go as far afield as
Kitchener -Waterloo, Guelph and Stratford to find accomodation.
So the job for Mr. Underwood and his committee is to find
accommodation in private homes for people to stay. The problem
is made worse by the fact the committee of 12 doesn't really
know how many people to expect who want a place to stay and
how many will just be making day trips to the plowing match.
By the end of July the committee had received over 300
requests for information and had passed on to each, the names of
two people willing to billet people in their homes. It's up to the
individual to make the rest of the arrangements.
Doug Farquhar of Clinton, chairman of the gates and tickets
committee also has problems. He has to find ways of getting
about 50,000 people per day into and out of the former farm
fields as quickly as possible. To assist him in selling tickets on
the site he'll have a team of 35 bank tellers provided by the Bank
of Montreal from branches throughout the county as well as 10
VILLAGE SQUIRE/SEPTEMBER 1978. PG. 5.