Building plowing match ‘city’ to begin Sunday: Brownell

2015 International Plowing Match chairman Jim Brownell speaks to the Team Cornwall AGM at Ramada Cornwall on June 10, 2015. The building of the plowing match city should start June 21, 2015 when organizers crack open the first of many shipping containers for the event. (Cornwall Newswatch/Bill Kingston)

CORNWALL – The realization that a multi-million economic event is coming to SD&G in September will start really sinking in this weekend.

Jim Brownell, chairman of the 2015 International Plowing Match, was the guest speaker at the Team Cornwall AGM at Ramada Cornwall Wednesday afternoon.

Brownell told the roughly 100 people there, shipping containers will be cracked open near Finch on Sunday to start building to 1,000 acre nomadic city and its amenities.

“Those containers have been back there all winter, waiting for…this Sunday…is the opening day for one of those containers. We have to figure out, now, what’s in them,” Brownell said to a chuckle from the audience. The containers came with no inventory of their contents.

As for public interest, it’s already building with over 600 of the 1,500 RV camp sites already spoken for, Brownell stated.

The plowing match chairman also highlighted the economic spinoffs for the region, citing Enigma Research data, showing $160 million in annual buying power of the IPM visitors at the 2012 match in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. The event in Roseville generated $20 million in economic impact to the area and tourists and event operators.

Brownell also used the opportunity to pitch the business audience for various forms of sponsorship for the event Sept. 22-26 near Finch, which is on land of five to six area farms.

As for Team Cornwall business, a new slate of team captains for 2015-2016 were introduced.

They are (in no particular order): Paul Desnoyers, Joanne Brault, Valerie Dore, Dani Tedesco-Derouchie, Peter Gault, Todd Bennett, Alison Hudson, Nada Kovinich, David Murphy, Bob Peters, Amanda Brisson, Wendy Hargreaves, Denis Lapierre and Diane Brown.

The ambassador group for the Seaway City has an operating surplus of nearly $70,000.

Team Cornwall also highlighted a number of its events this summer including its popular golf tournament on Sept. 9 at Summerheights Golf Links.

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