London city councillor Bill Armstrong is continuing his push to have the Forest City host the International Plowing Match in 2020.
Armstrong was unsuccessful in his attempt to convince city politicians earlier this month to bid for the traditionally rural event in 2020, however city council did vote in favour of expressing an interest to host a future plowing match.
City council’s interest in hosting the event hinges on receiving more details from city staff.
Not wanting to wait, the veteran councillor has written a letter to Thames Centre, asking the municipality to support London’s 2020 bid.
“I believe that City of London would be a great location to host the IPM in 2020 and kindly request your support in the form of a letter,” he wrote.
Armstrong cited strong support in his ward to explain his continued push for the event.
“I have taken the time to speak with many residents and businesses within my ward to gauge the level of interest — most persons that I have spoken with are quite ecstatic about the possibility to host this event in London,” he wrote.
While Armstrong boasts support for the event in his ward, he won’t get it from Thames Centre Coun. Kelly Elliot.
“It makes me laugh. He can’t get the support of London city council to fully get on board with this and so he’s looking for other municipalities to support the idea,” she said. “I’m sure he won’t be surprised not to get my support.”
London last hosted the International Plowing Match in 1928 when it was held in London Township.
Bidding for the plowing match would cost London $100,000 plus any additional costs if the city were to be successful. The event has a budget of $2.5 million to $3 million, while council was told the majority of that was paid for by the Ontario Plowmen’s Association and other partners, there’s uncertainty over whether the city would have to serve as guarantor.
The Ontario Plowman’s Association told city politicians earlier this month the economic benefits to the host community would be over $30 million. However, that would make it more than three times as lucrative to London as Country Music Week, which generated $8.4 million in economic activity across the province — much of it specific to London.
Tourism London cautioned against chasing the event, saying the city doesn’t have the necessary expertise to pull it off.
“This is not an easy task but it needs the appropriate expertise and I can clearly tell you we don’t have that and I don’t think this administration has it either,” said Tourism London General Manager John Winston.
Armstrong has earmarked the area near Crumlin Sideroad, east of Veterans Memorial Parkway to hold the plowing match. Elliot says that area isn’t large enough and even if it was, Armstrong is wasting his time asking Thames Centre for support.
“It’s a huge project and it’s something that Thames Centre or Middlesex Centre just can’t take on. This is free advice, if you’re looking for support, the support needs to come from the county level, not individual municipalities,” she said.
All of Armstrong’s efforts to bring the event in London may be for naught.
City hall was told last week a decision would be made the week of Oct. 23. As of Friday, a host community hadn’t been announced by the OPA.
This year’s event was held in Walton, east of Goderich in Huron County. The match will be held in Pain Court, Chatham-Kent in 2018 and in Verner, West Nipissing in 2019.