HCPM26: Huron Plowmen to produce history book for 100th match in 2028

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

In 2028, the Huron County Plowmen’s Association will be marking a significant anniversary when they hold the 100th annual Huron County Plowing Match at a location that has yet to be determined.

 

That match will mark a milestone for the organization which has been fostering a relationship with the youth of the community, while furthering the good work of agriculture in Huron County and beyond for nearly a century. The match has become one of the signature agricultural events in one of the province’s most agriculturally-productive regions. Furthermore, the local impact has continued to spread with Huron County Plowing Match participants, Queen of the Furrow and Princess winners and others making their presence known with victories at International Plowing Matches provincially and at national and international matches held all over the world.

 

With this occasion to mark, the association has decided to create a history book to look back at the last 100 years of the organization and all of the people who have helped make it what it is during that time.

 

At one of the association’s meetings earlier this year, the membership decided to move forward with the creation of a history book that would be a collector’s item for those interested in agriculture and competitive plowing in Huron County, striking a committee to that effect and appointing Past-President Steve Hallahan as its chair.

 

Hallahan then welcomed his mother, Marian, to the next meeting of the association to talk about how best to pursue the creation of the book. Marian has been a long-time member of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association and, for years, was responsible for compiling its Heritage Book annually. She came prepared with some tips and bits of advice for the association, should it want to move ahead with the book in 2028.

 

Steve says that he has always had an interest in history and would never turn down an opportunity to hear from the elders in any of the farming communities in Huron County, so he felt that putting this book together was important, which is why he stepped up and accepted a leadership role in the process.

 

He says he thinks it’s important for the stories of the past to be told and preserved in a way that they can be relived and retold to the younger generations.

 

There has already been some work done. He has the archives of The Citizen and The Brussels Post and Blyth Standard at his disposal, as well as the association’s own archives and the archives of the Huron County Museum. Next, he will be looking for family stories to be included in the book and that work will begin, in earnest, at this year’s Huron County Plowing Match.

 

Steve will have a booth set up at the match, encouraging people to take forms to fill out with their family stories, submitting them to him by, hopefully, Christmas, so that he and the rest of the committee has the coming year to put them all together with the book being ready for people to buy at the 2028 Huron County Plowing Match.

 

He says that, ideally, people could submit a piece on their family that’s about 800 words, along with a digital picture. Submissions, when ready, can be sent to Steve by e-mail at hallahandairyfarms@gmail.com.

 

Since this process has begun, people have already started sharing some stories with him, like the year when the association was facing dire straits and Don and the late Maja Dodds paid for the prize money for the year’s match out of their own pockets - that was one that really stuck out to Steve.

 

Other long-time members, like Helen Craig, Joan and Neil Vincent and others have already stepped forward with stories, which has Steve thinking that the book is going to be a keeper.

 

Watch for the display at this year’s match or reach out to Steve directly for more information on the book.