Some great ideas start around the kitchen table; others just happen.
A few months ago Allan Lee and Ken Martin were looking for ways to draw attention to the local Canada Food Grains projects.
The Harriston-area group didn’t have signage and needed a novel approach for something mobile. They hit upon an interesting solution and it has been showcased and traveling ever since.
In early May a group of enthusiasts met at the Martin farm on the Seven Bridges Road and transformed Ken’s hay wagon with brushes and bright red paint.
It turned into a social event with Sandra providing lunch while they worked.
An antique plow in John Deere yellow and green, borrowed from Earl Lee (Elmira), was set in the wagon. Huge eight-foot markers from Teviotdale’s Raynbow Signs publicizing the “Harriston Growing Project” cover the sides of the bale wagon.
In true community spirit, and doing double duty for marketing, are signs promoting the International Plowing Match (IPM) in September.
On the way back from Teviotdale after getting the sign affixed, the wagon stopped at the residence of Bev May and sat on her lawn by highway 109 for a few days.
Then during the “Spring Into Song Concert” in late May it was parked in front of the local Presbyterian Church.
The red wagon was in the Harriston arena parking lot during the annual Firemen’s Breakfast and Garden Festival in June. It was pulled as a float in the July 1 Atwood Parade and later in the Listowel Fall Fair parade.
The wagon also put in an appearance at the Palmerston Tractor Pull.
In between traveling times it finds a home where it’s highly visible, such as one of Harold Fisher’s farms along Highways 87 or 9 or back at Martin’s place.
On the weekend of Aug. 19 and 20 it was situated on the Highway 23 farm of Larry and Mary Dickieson, where it also advertised the Palmerston Fall Fair.
In July the local 2016 Food Grains wheat crop was harvested from 45 acres at Drew on Katewell Farm (Jim and June Macdonald). Organizers thanked Henk and Richard Zemmelink for providing the combining machinery for another successful Food Grains harvest.
