Students in Sarnia are gaining some hands-on experience with promoting a milestone event for the Lambton County Plowmen's Association.
A media conference was held on Tuesday to officially announce the 100th anniversary of the Lambton County Plowing Match, scheduled for Saturday, September 3.
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton Executive Director Mark Perrin said the event itself has been in the works for a couple of years but was delayed due to the pandemic.
"Anytime it's such a milestone of 100 years, it makes it that much more special. Obviously with COVID, we're a few years [later] than what we planned but we're finally coming together," Perrin said. "[With] all the partnerships and collaborations, it's just such an exciting event."
A new collaboration involves students from St. Patrick's High School. The technology department has been tasked with creating a logo, a website, and setting up social media accounts for the event.
Educator Robert Walicki said terms such as "plowing" and "combines" were lost on some, so the project allowed students to learn about agriculture, Lambton County's history, and multimedia uses.
"It is actually amazing how a lot of our youth like to have an impact on our community," he said. "I think sometimes we don't realize that or we don't really showcase, and we don't give them the venue to do that so this is really truly a wonderful way of doing it."
Educator Robert Walicki. July 12, 2022. (Photo by Natalia Vega.)
A few students at Tuesday's announcement agreed the project had an impact on their learning experience and they admitted they were "grateful for the opportunity."
The plowmen's association is also working with the county after receiving a $3,000 grant from the creative county program.
Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott said it will be nice to highlight the importance of agriculture within the county.
"The money that the county gave through the Creative County Grant is just worth many, many times more than the dollar value that we gave," said Marriott.
The 100th anniversary event is expected to draw in people from across southwestern Ontario with classic, antique, and horse plowing competitions. Other activities, local vendors, and live entertainment will also be set up at the venue.
Lambton County Plowmen's Association member Dennis Bryson said they are still in the early planning stages of the event. The association is looking to have local municipal leaders sign up for a plowing competition and is currently collecting historical items from past plowing matches or Queen of the Furrow competitions.
The Plowing Match will be held at 1748 Rokeby Line, in St. Clair Township.
