‘Loss for all of Minto’
Dear Editor:
The cancellation of the Upper Canada Two Cylinder Club’s (UCTCC) 2026 John Deere Show is a loss for all of Minto.
When UCTCC brought its show to Palmerston in 2023, it brought visitors to town, supported local businesses and celebrated our agricultural heritage.
The club also donated $1,100 to the Palmerston Food Bank, $3,000 to the Minto Fire Department, $6,100 to the Palmerston hospital and $1,200 to Groves hospital.
After reading the newspaper report and listening to the Town of Minto council meeting where this issue was discussed, I was left with more questions than answers.
During the meeting, it was acknowledged that Minto has soccer facilities in Palmerston, Harriston and Clifford. I understand Minto United Soccer’s concern about families being able to walk or bike to the Palmerston field. However, Minto United Soccer serves families across Minto.
If using another municipal soccer field temporarily meant keeping a long-standing community event in Minto, was that too much to ask?
No one is saying youth soccer is not valuable. But community organizations all face inconvenience. Games get moved. Teams travel. Facilities are shared.
What bothers me most is that a community event was lost because a public space could not be shared.
Representatives of UCTCC have said they walked the grounds after the July 2025 show and found no damage caused by their event.
Minto United Soccer said it emailed concerns about the condition of the soccer field on Sept. 6, 2025, nearly two months after the July show.
If the field condition was serious enough to become a safety concern for youth soccer, why were those concerns raised nearly two months later instead of immediately after the July show? Direct communication should have been the first step.
This event should not have been lost.
Rhonda Schill,
Palmerston