Seaforth's Klaver revels in afterglow of Ontario Queen of the Furrow win

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

After being crowned the provincial Queen of the Furrow, just the fourth Huron County woman to do so, Maranda Klaver spoke to Huron County Council to update members on her activities of the past year.

Klaver spoke to council at its Nov. 9 meeting, remotely via Zoom, telling members how proud she is to be a Huron County resident and to represent the county now as the Ontario Queen of the Furrow.

Before earning the provincial crown, Klaver said she was very proud of all that was accomplished at the Huron County Plowing Match, which went ahead this summer in-person and open to the public for the first time since 2019.

She said she was pleased with the response to the Queen of the Furrow and Princess competitions, which saw more competitors than any other year in recent memory with nine Queen contestants and five vying to be Princess. She added that the new representatives, Queen of the Furrow Luanne McGregor and Princess Jillian Shortreed, will be excellent young representatives of the county over the next year.

Klaver then made her way to the International Plowing Match, marking another return for an in-person, open to the public event for the first time since 2019. She drove over six hours to the Kemptville area for the match, she told councillors, taking with her a positive attitude, coach Brian McGavin and the support of many other Huron County residents. At the match, she said she had two goals, which were to make new friends and to excel in the plowing portion of the competition.

Klaver placed in the top five of the competition, placing fifth in the plowing portion of the competition, which she said made her very proud.

She was joined in the top five by the Queens of the Furrow from Leeds, Peel-Dufferin, Ottawa-Carleton and Wellington, which was then trimmed down to a top three of Ottawa-Carleton, Peel-Dufferin and Klaver, who was eventually chosen as the winner of the competition.

Klaver said she was immediately treated like royalty at her first day of the match after winning the crown, even being treated to a helicopter ride above the grounds.

Klaver said her family was unable to make the trip to support her at the match in person, but she was overjoyed to see the reception she received when she returned home from Kemptville. Her family had made a large wooden sign celebrating her win and were all there to greet her, wearing crowns of their own.

Klaver told councillors that she has been involved in the Queen of the Furrow competition since she was 12 years old and, by winning the provincial crown, she had become the person she looked up to when she was young and that she aspired to be that person who could now inspire the younger generation.

The Dufferin Farm Tour was Klaver’s first official event as the Ontario Queen of the Furrow, which she attended in an attempt to introduce herself and promote the 2023 International Plowing Match, which will be held in Peel-Dufferin, hosted by the Townships of Grand Valley, Amaranth and East Luther, from Sept. 19-23, 2023.

She has since attended her first plowing match, making her way to the Haldimand-Oneida Plowing Match in Hagersville. Klaver then attended the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto and is now looking forward to local Santa Claus parades and Christmas events in the coming weeks.

Klaver told councillors that there are preliminary plans to host a “Meet the Queen” event, organized by the Huron Plowmen’s Association, potentially in Brussels, though nothing has been made official just yet.

Warden Glen McNeil congratulated Klaver on her tremendous achievement and told her that she is an excellent representative of the county. Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn, who was the warden of Huron County when Klaver was crowned in Huron County in 2019, also expressed his pride. He said that, when she was crowned all those years ago, many people could feel that a special person had been honoured that day and that big things awaited Klaver on the provincial stage.