The participants are here, the fields are ready and the tents are pitched.
And Olds College is ready to welcome more than 60 competitors from across the globe for the 60th World Plowing Championship.
Although competition-related activities began on July 11, the two-day main event kicks off at 8:30 a.m. on July 19.
But over the past number of days, a climate of intense, last-minute preparation has settled over the community.
Norwegian competitors Harald Bøhnsdalen, 47, and Kjarten Trane Skadsem, 25, arrived in Olds on July 5 to get a sense of what kind of conditions they'll be plowing in.
“The thing that gives us the real challenge here is the type of soil. It's really black soil that we call sticky. When it has a certain moisture, it really sticks to the mull boards,” Bøhnsdalen told the Olds Albertan during a barbecue hosted by Olds' Sons of Norway on July 10. “That's one of the reasons why we wanted to come a little bit earlier to try to figure out how to adjust the plows or be prepared for those conditions.”
Meanwhile, Kerry Moynihan, the college's general manager for the championship, was leading an “army of volunteers” while putting the final touches on 121 hectares of land south of the campus and east of Highway 2A for competition and non-competition events.
“It's a massive amount of work to turn a field into what I call Disneyland,” he said,
He said work on the land began four years ago when volunteers started planting World Ploughing Organization-approved grass for the competition.
Agricultural and foreign trade ministers from several Eastern European countries such as Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will take in the event and also hold a summit at the college.
Overall, Moynihan said, 5,000 guests are expected to come to the area for the championship.
Many of those guests are staying at the town's hotels, with the Best Western, Pomeroy Inn and Suites and Ramada all booked to capacity.
Jordan Cleland, the college's vice-president of advancement, said the campus townhouses, which have a capacity of 184, are full with competitors as well as their families, fans and delegations.
There are also 50 spaces in the Frank Grisdale Hall residence taken up by people taking part in the championship, he said.
Cleland also said cafeterias and other services normally closed at this time of year will open for the event and the college expects to break even or make a small profit from the championship.
The last time the college hosted the championship was 1986.
For the event's full schedule, as well as a map of the competition site, go to www.worldplowing2013.com.
