Volunteers Needed For 2019 World Ploughing Competition

A ploughing contest is making its way to Baudette, Minnesota in August, and Lake of the Woods Tourism has been planning for the world event since last year. A community meeting was held at the Baudette American Legion where Joe Henry, the Executive Director of Tourism for Lake of the Woods, gave an update on the event.

The competition is expected to draw in a crowd of 10,000 people a day.

“For any companies that would love to get in front of that kind of crowd, what a great opportunity for sponsorship, and of course we’re also talking about volunteerism,” Henry said. “You know, volunteers are tough to get in today’s world and we have a big big need for volunteers.”

Henry said Lake of the Woods Tourism is the driving force of all the planning. He said that once hotels fill up in the area, they will work with other surrounding cities in the Northern Region.

“The communities are stepping up,” Henry said. “We are also working with our neighboring communities of Warroad, Roseau, Thief River Falls, Bemidji and International Falls. And our whole region is coming together to make this happen.”

The international competition lasts for three days, and it brings together the world’s best ploughers.

“There’s 32 countries involved, in fact last year was in Germany, the year before was Kenya, Africa, and next year it’s in Russia. So it’s coming to the United States and Lake of the Woods – we actually landed it,” Henry said.

The World Ploughing Contest happens about every 30 years in the United States. This year, it’s happening in Baudette, and last time it was held in 1988 in Amana Colonies, Iowa.

“We put our hat in the ring and we had a lot of site visits and we got her,” Henry said. “So we kid around, we say we have good news and we got bad news. The good news is we got the event, and the bad news is we got the event ’cause now we got to run it. “

Henry says people can expect to see a lot of displays, activities, and demonstrations at the event.

“We’re gonna have antique tractor and plow displays, we’re gonna have the Northern Minnesota Draft Horse Association. We’ll have not only a draft horse but also mules there demonstrating. We’re gonna have lots of great vendors. We’ll have seed test plots there,” Henry said. “Lots of different a variety for people to come and enjoy.”

The Worlds Ploughing Contest started in 1953. This is the fourth time the competition will take place in the United States.

The 2019 World’s Ploughing Contest is on August 30 to September 1. For more information on how you can volunteer or to buy tickets, visit https://lakeofthewoodsmn.com/world-ploughing-2019/.