Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
The first world championship plowing contest was held near Cobourg, Ontario in October of 1953.
Teams of two expert plowmen from 10 countries competed with the Canadian champions for the first truly international match. Teams from Finland, Norway, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Holland, Germany and the Republic of Ireland gathered in England on Sept. 21.
They embarked on the CPR Liner Empress of Amsterdam and arrived in Montreal on Sept. 30, hoping to win the Golden Plow Award, the emblem of world supremacy in the art of plowing.
The event drew huge crowds and was won by Jim Eccles of Brampton.
Otaco, of Orillia, was one of Canada’s largest manufacturers of farm equipment at that time and one of the 175 exhibitors in the 33-acre Tent City. Their sign — The Otaco Ltd., makers of fine farm implements and wagons — could not be missed.
On display were some of the products made by Otaco including a tractor plow, the popular Roadmaster Farm Wagon, a tractor sleigh and wooden wheelbarrow. In the tent would be displayed disc wheels, water and well pumps, the famous 'gold tip' plow shares and the popular Minnitoy line.
