Making the community shine

Communities in Bloom (CiB) is gearing up for projects in the summer as well as helping the city prepare for the upcoming visit of the provincial judges that will judge Cranbrook in the 10,001 to 20,000 category for the CiB bloom competition. Our adversary? Prince Rupert. With an approximate difference of 6,000 between Cranbrook and Prince Rupert populations, Communities in Bloom chair Pat Adams believes that our city has a leg up when it comes to finding extra hands to help clean up our city.

The judges will arrive on Sunday, July 20 and tour the city on the following day. Adams says that the judges will be shown 80 percent of the city, whether it be a detailed tour of some sites or just a drive by of a subject area. From residential, to business, to commercial and industrial sites, Adams and the CiB encourage everyone to keep their yards neat and tidy. “You don’t have to have a big, fancy garden,” points out Adams, “Just make sure that you trim long grasses, mow your lawn and have your yard looking clean.”

For industrial sites, Adams says that she is sending out letters to businesses to remind them about the bloom competition as well as containing tips to help an industrial type business tidy up their property. Last year, the judges informed the local CiB that the industrial sites could be an area that could be improved. Little things like long weeds can be weed wacked down, encourages Adams

“We’re going for another five blooms and hopefully a win this year,” she admits. Other stops on the tour will include the Railway Museum, Elizabeth Lake and the Centennial gardens. “There are also some private gardens that the judges will see,” explains Adams, “We just want to show off our community and homeowners want to take pride in their property and community.”

For drive by inspections, the judges will be looking for tidiness, hence the emphasis on having a neat and organized yard. “Neatness and tidiness is key,” stresses Adams. This means no wild grasses or weeds and no litter.

The CiB is excited to see the reaction of one judge who will be returning this year after judging in the 2005 competition. “I think this judge will notice a huge difference from a few years ago,” says Adams. She says that despite the push to get everything just so, she realizes that there are a lot of challenges. “We have new prosperity, new development, but there’s been volunteer interest and it’s a great time to be involved with CiB,” she comments.

She is happy with partnerships that have formed with the city and businesses in the community. CiB has done work in front of the Ashley Furniture store and Cranbrook Dodge on the strip, landscaping and planting vegetation on the edges of the highway for the Highway Boulevard program. “We do design and project management and the businesses helps us out with materials,” says Adams. CiB also runs Trees for Life and the Hanging Basket imitative in the downtown core. So come July 21, keep your yards in order and looking sharp and we may just come out ahead of Prince Rupert.