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Congratulations and thanks to Autumn Bresette for representing the Lambton County Plowmen's Association during the Queen of the Furrow Competition at the International Plowing Match this past week. A special thank you to Patrick Sanders for coaching her for the plowing portion of the competition. Autumn placed 5th in the that portion of the competition. We send our congratulations to the new Ontario Queen of the Furrow Taylor Legge from Bruce County. For more information on the Queen of the Furrow competition at the 2024 International Plowing Match visit https://www.plowingmatch.org/ipm2024/queen-of-the-furrow/

We look forward to seeing you on September 2nd for our 101st plowing match. Schedule for Match Day 8 - 9:30am - Registration for plowing classes 10am - 2pm Competition for all classes - horses, antiques, conventional 2 - 3pm - Municipal class ( please register at the registration tent) and the queen of the furrow will be plowing (time to be determined) Plowmen, please be in the field and ready to start by 10am. Petrolia Lions food trailer will be on site for food purchases. Events will wrap up at the actual match site by mid-afternoon on Saturday Dinner (pre-sold tickets only) and awards to follow.

Thank You for making our 2023 Lambton County plowing match a HUGE success. First, to our host farmer Forbesvue Farms (Kevin and family) - thank you for hosting this event. Without support like yours, it would be very difficult to hold our competition day. To all the competitors from near and far - we are always so thankful to have such great people show up for our annual event. We appreciate the miles you traveled and the time on the roads. We all know travel costs add up anymore. We were also so happy to see some new faces in the class lists and that brings hope that we will continue on for a while. To those who fed the plowmen and others today - we certainly appreciate the contributions you made to our event. The Petrolia Lions club kept those at the site fed. And to wrap up the day, the ladies and gentlemen from the Camlachie United Church provided a wonderful roast beef dinner for our banquet. Ontario Queen Maranda Klaver and 2023-2025 Lambton Queen Autumn Bressette To the Ontario Queen of the Furrow Maranda Klaver - thank you for joining us today. We certainly appreciate the work you’ve put in across the province this year promoting local branches and the IPM. To our 2022-23 Queen of the Furrow Morgan Rombouts - thank you for representing us this past year. We wish you a good time at the Queen of the Furrow competition at the IPM later this month. To our incoming Queen of the Furrow Autumn Bressette - we look forward to working with you over the next year to fulfill our mission of preserving and promoting the art of plowing and agriculture in Lambton County. To our judges - Eric Prelaz and Paul Dodds - thank you for doing the job that no one else envies you - scoring the lands. We appreciate you joining us today. To our sponsors - we owe the hugest gratitude. Whether your donation was financially or “in kind”, we couldn’t hold our annual event without you. To CHOK Radio in Sarnia - thank you for helping promote our day and spending some time with us on match day. To those who brought displays - thank you for helping is celebrating our agricultural past. With displays such as you provide a chance to learn about some of the past agricultural equipment and continue to support the agricultural community in Lambton County. To those who came out and enjoyed the day - we hope you had a good time and we will see you back again. To our committee - thanks for the support of the event. And to those who help out for the day but aren’t part of the committee, thanks for pitching in. Together we get the day pulled together.

Kody Vandevenne & Queen Lauren Elliott Lambton County's 2019 match was hosted by Robson Farms in St Clair Township. Due to heavy rains the week of the 25th we had to move the match date back to Labour Day weekend on the Sunday. As it happened it was a light rain all day. Sixteen dedicated plowmen came out to plow. Plowing started at 9:45 am and we completed around 1:30-2:00pm. A moment of silence was held for Bill Bilton who passed away last summer. Bill was a member since 1958 for 61 years. He served as secretary for 58 of those years. Bill was a wealth of knowledge and will be missed by our Association.

Pictured with the scholarship winners are Scholarship committee members Dennis Bryson, Barb McNeil and Bryan Boyle. Photo Credit: Metcalfe Photography For Immediate Release October 15, 2023 – Brigden Ontario Three post-secondary students from Lambton County were each awarded $2,000 scholarships from proceeds of the 1991 International Ploughing Match held in Lambton. Rewarded for their community involvement and scholastic ability were Emma Ouellette, from St. Clair and Tecla Gerrits, from Enniskillen. Absent was Aimee MacKinlay, from Plympton-Wyoming. IPM 91 Trustees were impressed with the quality of all the applications submitted. -30- Background: The legacy of Lambton County’s highly successful 1991 International Plowing Match (IPM) is continuing to help deserving students in Lambton County continue their post-secondary studies. To be eligible for the scholarship applicants must have completed one-year of post-secondary training or be enrolled in their second year of any college or university. The annual deadline to apply is September 15th. Contact: Bryan Boyle Emma Ouellette from St. Clair and Tecla Gerrits from Enniskillen

Winthrop's Brian MacDonald, right, assists John Dekroom of Dublin, ON as he competes in the walking-plow class at the Lambton Plowing Match Aug. 30, 2025. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) About three dozen competitors brought their tractors and horses to Plympton-Wyoming Saturday for the annual Lambton Plowing Match. Sunny skies and slightly chilly late August temperatures greeted the field at Keith and Alma Hart’s London Line farm. “Absolutely fantastic conditions,” said Patrick Sanders, who placed second Friday at the Canadian national championships in Ayton, southeast of Hanover in Grey County. The long-time Alvinston competitor also was coaching family members and competing in Lambton’s event Saturday. Alvinston’s Patrick Sanders, right, coaches his nephew, Cameron Vos, at the Lambton Plowing Match Saturday in Plympton-Wyoming. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) The match is one of several on a circuit of qualifiers for the International Plowing Match, the provincial competition in which Sanders placed second in his class last year, advancing to nationals. “Exactly what we love to plow,” Sanders said of Saturday’s conditions. “Nice clay ground, but lots of moisture in it.” Repeating as second best in Canada, a title Sanders said he’s held a few times before, is “all right,” he said. “It’s always a thrill to be one of the best in the nation, but I haven’t quite achieved that goal of being the best plowman in Canada.” Watford’s Harper Shea competes in the Lambton Plowing Match in Plympton-Wyoming Saturday. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) A handful of first- and second-year competitors took part in Saturday’s competition, signalling some could be gearing up for 2027, said Kathi McNeil, an event organizer with the Lambton Plowmen’s Association. Queen of the Furrow, municipal class competitions and antique tractor displays also were part of the annual event, she said. “It’s a great family day,” she said. “It certainly celebrates our roots.” Lambton Plowing Match co-host Keith Hart is seen here with his 1955 Allis-Chalmers WD45 tractor. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) Keith Hart, who also hosted the 2024 Lambton Plowing Match at the property, said he was pleased to see it back. “It’s wonderful to see it,” he said Saturday, hours after competing in the walking plow category. Don Lunn, left, and Kathi McNeil, are with the Lambton Plowmen’s Association. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) Burford’s Jonathan Marcy competes at the Lambton Plowing Match in Plympton-Wyoming Aug. 30, 2025. (Tyler Kula/The Observer) ~Tyler Kula~ Sarnia Observer

Ken Milliken is pictured at the 2024 Lambton County Plowing Match in Plympton-Wyoming. (Alyssa Minten photo) “To plow internationally, you do have to get points to qualify, so we’re hoping to see some new faces,” said Kathi McNeil of the Lambton Plowmen’s Association. People who’ve taken time off from competitive plowing and want to take part when the international competition is held in Brigden in two years, might want to sharpen their skills at this year’s Aug. 30 Lambton County Plowing Match, she said. “We’re hoping it will spike some interest and get some new people out,” she said. The annual free event includes competitive horse and tractor classes as part of the International Plowing Match qualifying circuit, antique machinery, a food booth, and just-for-fun municipal classes, where local politicians try their hands at plowing their neatest and straightest. Lambton’s Queen of the Furrow, Autumn Bressette, will be there, McNeil said. More than 30 competitors took part in 2024, she said. “I think we’re going to see a few more,” when the annual match returns to Keith Hart’s London Line farm, she said, Typically, the plowing match is held for two years in a Lambton municipality, then moves to another, she said. It’s not always at the same property in those back-to-back years, but Hart stepped up and said he’d love to host again, McNeil said. Competitors used the eastern part of Hart’s farm’s in 2024, and will move to the west side of 5586 London Line this year, she said. Match day registration starts at 9 a.m. and plowing at 10 a.m., she said. Conditions were tough in 2024, after significant rains caused red clover to grow quicker than expected, McNeil said. “We have addressed that,” she said. “We’re hoping it’s a little better, a little more ‘normal’ this year.” Hopes are to also see more local mayors take part, after just two participated in 2024’s municipal class, she said. “We would love to see more out.” The annual competition is a “great day” with a lots of people to talk to and lots to do, she said. “I haven’t missed many in my life and I’m still learning new things all the time,” McNeil said. ~Tyler Kula~ Sarnia Observer

Kyle Ross from Wabash, Ont., leans into the competition at the 2017 Lambton County Plowing Match. (File photo/The Observer) Sept. 15 is the deadline this year for applications to the IPM 91 scholarship created after Lambton hosted the large plowing match and show at a site just outside of Petrolia in 1991. The local fund awards annual scholarships, currently three awards of $2,000, to Lambton residents entering their second year of university or college. Recipients traditionally are announced at the Brigden Fair on Thanksgiving weekend. After more than three decades, 116 scholarships with a total value of more than $165,000 have been awarded. The scholarship fund was created with about $125,000 a committee of Lambton volunteers earned hosting the 1991 plowing match that drew thousands to a site near Petrolia. Bryan Boyle, the only remaining original scholarship trustee, said volunteers in other host communities typically have shared profits after making a one-time community donation, “and that’s where it would end.” Lambton’s volunteers in 1991 decided instead to use the profits to create a community scholarship that could live on. Along with Boyle, a new generation of trustees have come on board in recent years to see the fund continue. “It’s really meeting the goals” of “helping those kids” who receive scholarships while maintaining the profile of the 1991 event in the community, he said. Recipients who have gone on to successful careers in the community include a veterinarian who opened a local practice and a principal of an engineering firm, Boyle said. The value of the scholarships awarded has fluctuated during the years, being as low as $1,000 at times, but trustees decided several years ago to set it at $2,000 so it would be “meaningful” for the recipients, Boyle said. The fund’s balance remains “in that hundred grand range” and even if awards “chipped away a little at the principal, it would outlive us,” he said. Typically, trustees receive 10 to 12 applications each year, Boyle said. Often, they come by word-of-mouth from previous year’s recipients talking up the scholarship. “That, in itself, has kept a constant flow of applications,” Boyle said. An applicant’s record of community involvement makes up 50 per cent of their score. Academic achievements, as well as financial and discretionary needs account for the balance. “They don’t necessarily have to be a brainiac,” Boyle said. “But, having said that, the marks that these kids get, if they’re very involved in the community,” indicate they often tend to do well academically, he said. The scholarship is available to students studying in any field and aren’t restricted to those related to agriculture, Boyle said. Applications reviewed by the trustees are generally very competitive, he said. “Sometimes there’s five or six you agonize over and other times there’s two or three that really emerge as obvious winners,” Boyle said. Contact: Bryan Boyle ~Paul Morden~ Sarnia Observer

Sarnia-Lambton- Bkejwanwong MP Marilyn Gladu was on hand to congratulate the students. The 1991 International Plowing Match Legacy lives on, even as another is being planned for 2027. During the Brigden Fair, the IPM Legacy Scholarships were presented. Receiving the award were Tyler McGrail of Plympton-Wyoming, who is taking justice and legal studies at the University of Guelph in the hopes of becoming an environment lawyer, Julia Drury of Petrolia who is at Brock University hoping to become a family lawyer and Stacey Marsh of Forest who is attending Western University. She hopes to be an audiologist. ~The Independent~

December 17, 2019, Wyoming, ON - Lambton's Creative County Grant Program has approved 21 projects for the 2020 program year, representing an investment of $71,880 in funding. The grant program will support new cultural initiatives across Lambton County that contribute to quality of life and promote a sense of cultural identity. At a recent meeting, the Creative County Committee approved the following: $3,000 to Lambton County's Plowmen's Association to support the Plowing Match 100th Anniversary. $700 to Lambton Concert Band for a retrospective look at the history of concert bands in Lambton County. $4,500 to Daytripping Magazine for the production of a mural commemorating the work of local artist Barbara Perrin. $2,350 for 'Me, You, & Us', an art workshop focused on youth, followed by a celebration of publicly exhibited portraits. $3,125 to Jazz and Blues in the Village for a free, Saturday afternoon matinee aimed at getting the community together for a family-focused afternoon of local music. $6,875 to Phil Egan for the production of the historical publication 'Keeping the Peace: 160 Years of Policing the Imperial City'. $3,750 to the Optimist Club of Forest for the Junior Lambton Film & Food Festival Camp, an annual summer food camp at the Optimist Hall in Forest open to local youth ages 13 to 19 and taught by local chefs, using local farms, and preparing local dishes. $4,000 to The Friends of Pinery Park for 'Art in The Park', a program providing visitors the opportunity to explore the relationship between art and nature. $2,000 to the Plympton-Wyoming Historical Society for the implementation of historical murals throughout the municipality. $750 to the West Coast Lions Club of Grand Bend for Wednesdays' Familiar Favourites - Grand Bend beach concerts. $1,400 for the Lambton Memorial Fiddle Contest. $7,850 to the Petrolia Discovery Foundation for renewed displays, way-finding and interpretive signage and new lighting and audio equipment at the Petrolia Discovery. $7,500 to Fairbank Oil Fields for the TICCIH - International Industrial Heritage Conference in Lambton's Oil Heritage Conservation District. $2,350 to Focus on Ability for 'Learning to Grow & Growing to Learn', a horticultural therapy program. $10,000 to Moore Agricultural Society to support the 'Music - The Universal Language' program. $2,000 to Moore Museum for the 'Outdoor Art Creating Awareness of Community Heritage, Part 2' program, to include the creation of 3 outdoor murals on the street-side façade of one of Moore Museum’s buildings. $2,880 to the Municipality of Brooke-Alvinston for the development of a professional cooking program. $1,000 to Municipality of Brooke-Alvinston for the promotion of the Fall Fair Ambassador Program & 10 year anniversary. $3,000 to The Village of Oil Springs for Family Fun Fest 2020. $1,500 to the Township of St. Clair and Heritage St. Clair for the installation of signage marking the early hamlets and villages of St. Clair Township. $1,350 to the Alvinston Arts & Music Festival for additional programming. It is estimated that this funding will leverage a total of $295,237 in local cultural investment by applicant organizations and their respective partners in 2020, based on the total estimated project costs submitted by applicants. The Creative County Grant Program was launched in 2013 to support innovative projects that build cultural capacity, strengthen the creative community, define the County's unique identity and enrich the quality of life of all residents. The program provides up to 50% of total project costs for new arts, culture and heritage initiatives across the County. The next application intake is scheduled for the fall of 2020, and will support initiatives taking place during the year 2021. For more information about Lambton's Creative County Grant Program, visit www.lambtononline.ca. -30- Please contact: Jackie Rombouts, Committee Chair Mayor, Township of Warwick 519-464-3634 Jackie_Rombouts@hotmail.com Andrew Meyer General Manager, Cultural Services Division, County of Lambton 519-845-0809 ext. 5236 Andrew.Meyer@county-lambton.on.ca

~Dana Thorne~ Lambton Heritage Museum

1991 Lambton OMAF Staff A quarter-century later, the impact of the International Plowing Match is still being felt in Lambton County. The site of the tented city, at the corner of LaSalle Line and what is now called Plowing Match Road, today looks like any other Lambton County farm field, but for several days in September 1991, it welcomed more than 90,000 visitors over several days of the annual massive farm show and plowing competition. It was the result of years of planning and preparations by hundreds of volunteers, and the second time in the later half of the century that Lambton was host for the match. This year’s version of the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo opens Tuesday in Wellington County, but it 1991, it made its temporary home on several farms in Enniskillen Township, just west of Petrolia. “The tented city was right in my backyard,” said Scott Campbell, whose late father, Allan Campbell, was the official host farmer for the 1991 plowing match. The late Clare Freer, a neighbour, was named mayor of the tented city since his farm also being part of the site. “It was a good time,” but also a busy time, Campbell said. He said his father and neighbours had initially wanted to host the 1973 version of the plowing match that ended up on the McGugan farm near Alvinston. “When it came back up, we put our farms in for it again,” Campbell said. A plaque mounted on a granite stone in the front yard of the farm marks its role in the 1991 match. “Probably, if you mentioned to people that are under the age of 40, they might not even remember the plowing match,” Campbell said. But the group of volunteers that worked on the 1991 match took a step to establish a legacy for their efforts. When the dust had cleared, local organizers had approximately $100,000 in profit they used to create the Lambton IPM ’91 Scholarship Fund that announces awards to local students each Thanksgiving weekend, at the Brigden Fair. Bryan Boyle, who retired from the local office of the provincial ministry of agriculture, said the efforts of volunteers over the years of planning and work that went into the meet was impressive. “To stay committed and co-operative and collaborative, over all that time, was a real feat,” and the scholarship fund was an extension of that commitment, he said. Often, local plowing match committees divided profits amongst volunteers, and also make a donation to a charity. But Lambton’s group took a different approach in 1991. “They were interested in keeping the spirit living on, and so that’s how the scholarship evolved,” Boyle said. Bill Bilton, a long-serving municipal politician and farmer from Dawn-Euphemia Township, was one of the volunteers in 1991, and sits on the scholarship board. “It certainly is a massive undertaking,” he recalled about the work to host the event. “There’s a certain amount of prestige to having it, and it certainly showcases your county.” Along with all the planning, good weather helped make the 1991 match a successful event for the Lambton organizers, and the scholarship fund has allowed its impact to continue, he said. “The way interest rates have went, the scholarship isn’t as large as it used to be, but it’s still on the go,” Bilton said. Currently, the fund awards three $1,000 scholarships each year. The provincial-match moves to a new community each September, but there are no current plans to bid for a return to Lambton County. “There’s been talk of it, but nobody has really taken hold of it yet,” Bilton said. “Really, to tell you the truth, I think it would be harder to do now that it was then.” Declining populations in rural communities mean there aren’t as many potential volunteers as there once were, Bilton pointed out. He was also part of the organizing committee when Lambton hosted the event in 1973, at the farm of the late J.D. McGugan. “Looking back, it was a wonderful experience,” said his son, Don McGugan, the mayor of Brooke-Alvinston Township. “We had the most beautiful five days that anybody would ask for.” Some 150,000 people were said to have attended the match in 1973, and McGugan recalls there were 50,000 on the Saturday, alone. That year, Gov. Gen. Roland Mitchener officially opened the match, McGugan said. “He plowed the first furrow, on the first day.” McGugan said Mitchener grew up on a farm in Alberta, “and he was a really down-to-earth, practical man.” McGugan also recalled that 1973 was the first year the International Plowing March had an official beer tent. Prior to that, “they always had a problem with refreshments being at the back of tents and buildings,” he said. Royal Canadian Legion branches from around Lambton were enlisted to run the beer tent, and it went off without a hitch, McGugan said. “Since then, there has been a beer tent every year.” A Presbyterian church from just outside of Brooke served meals and pie during the match, and made $5,000. “Back in 1973, $5,000 was a lot of money,” McGugan said. He also recalls five elephants a farm chemical company brought to the match took part in the daily parade through the grounds. “It was a positive experience for Lambton County,” McGugan said. “We were proud to be hosts.” ~Paul Morden~ Sarnia Observer