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The Rural Voice, 2002-09, Page 39organizers, the Dailys say. That's why IPM organizers have settled on "RURAL EXPO" to identify the event when reaching the urban audience. "This is an opportunity for people to see what rural life is about and they can have fun doing it... People in the agricultural community pretty well all know there's a plowing match each year. What we want to do is to go to London, Chatham, Sarnia (and other urban centres) to make people aware of the event," Eve Daily says. "There's no other city like London, Ontario in all of Canada... It's the metropolitan area for a rural area," Ross Daily adds. The city's population now hovers around 350,000. Lump in places like •Woodstock, Chatham, Sarnia, St. Thomas, St. Marys, Stratford and the towns and villages between and the number of potential urban visitors soon tops a half million. The Dailys are not interested in predictions, however. Others involved with this year's IPM have suggested 100,000 paying visitors —or close to it — would be judged as a major success. The Dailys know which buttons to push. They make sure their media contacts understand that the IPM is a nonprofit organization that will turn any profits back into the local community. They only have a budget of $125,000 to work with, an amount that covers the cost of printing brochures and pamphlets as well as television, radio and newspaper advertisement. That's why the effort of volunteers has been so crucial in spreading the good news about the match. This has come in the form of a single person passing on the message, to people taking the time to man a booth at a mall, to the kind of work being performed by people like volunteer Ken McCallum who's been distributing pamphlets and putting up posters across Southwestern Ontario. "The volunteer culture that surrounds the plowing match is just amazing," Eve Daily says. "Meet us in the Country" is the slogan for this year's match. Don't just read about it, though. Come see for yourselves what makes Middlesex County and rural Ontario great.0 R. T. BOLTON & SON DEPENDABLE QUALITY PEDIGREED SEED Phone 519-527-0205 or 519-527-0455 Seaforth * WINTER WHEAT SEED * ADVANTAGE n,,, r..n.,u ....,,-ElS,RS Der AC MORLEY Hard Red Excellent Yields AC CARTIER Soft White Excellent Quality & Survival SUPERIOR Soft White Top Yield Variety ASHLAND Soft Red Excellent Yields Other popular varieties available by order SEED TREATED WITH DIVIDEND XL RTA . TO CONTROL BUNT & OTHER SEEDLING DISEASES CERTIFIED SEED USF n con •LL yrs WOnrn WHERE EXPERIENCE COUNTS , ontr.l .1 - a c T 0 1'ydrau is 'urn. Hoses Bearings Hydraulic Pumps Cylinders M3 Rugged - Convenient 3 pt. hitch & engine powered models from 5.5 9 h.p. with Honda engines MODEL 14-E 25 TON Made in Canada CB M BARFOOT'S w 0 rn co J� WELDING AND MACHINE INC. 517 Brown St., Marlon (519) 534-1200 1-800-265-6224 SEPTEMBER 2002 35