Chatham-Kent's Internation Plowing Match executives are excited to get into the driver's seat of the annual event.
They're back after taking in last week's IPM in Wellington County, to get inspiration and tips for their event in 2018.
Co-chair Leon LeClair says they got a "behind-the-scenes" tour of this year's IPM, and knows there's still lots they need to learn.
"Something so simple as how the fences go out, how you map out the tent cities and trailers," says LeClair. "It's overwhelming, however, we have all these contact numbers, and how they've done it in previous years."
LeClair says they'll be thinking "outside the box" for the 2018 IPM, but wouldn't go into great detail, in case the 2017 organizers want to nab their plans.
LeClair adds he's been to plenty of IPMs in the past, but is looking forward to having complete control over the plans.
"Now, we're in charge. Before we were spectators, and we could say 'oh maybe that wasn't done right,' or 'oh I might've done that a bit different,' but we have to do this [ourselves] now," says LeClair.
LeClair was surprised how involved local municipalities were in past matches. He says they'll be reaching out to Wellington County's CAO for more information on what's expected.
Last week's IPM saw 35,000 attendees in one day alone. LeClair hopes up to 130,000 will attend Chatham-Kent's IPM in 2018.
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