Town judged on beautification

Times Reporter    

 

The Communities in Bloom (CIB) judges came through Strathmore on July 25 to see how the town compares to other Bloom communities. Linda Tomlinson and Brenda Isaak Takao were the two judges taking the tour with CIB Chair Melody Wilson.  

“We evaluate for six different categories, one is tidiness, we’re going to look at garbage, we’re going to look at litter, we’re going to look at weeds, how everything is cared for,” said Tomlinson. 

The judges also look at heritage conservation, environment, landscape, floral and urban forests within the community.  

“Then in each one of those categories we look at community involvement to see how the businesses, how the municipality and how the residents are involved in all those areas,” said Isaak Takao, who is in her third year of judging. 

Tomlinson has been a CIB judge since 2007, and has had the opportunity to judge Strathmore a couple of times over the years, and see the changes made. She said there have been big differences, like with the Birth Forest and how it has grown. 

On Sept. 13 it will be announced at a provincial event how each community did, and how many blooms they receive for the year on a scale of one to five. 

CIB has been in Strathmore since 2005 when resident Robert Breitwieser brought it to the community. He stepped back from the chair role last year, passing the torch on to Wilson. 

CIB, according to their mandate, is a non-profit organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement and the challenge of a national program, with focus on enhancing green spaces in communities. 

Currently there are 10 volunteers who are part of the board. 

“We would really like more people so we can work on bigger, better projects,” said Wilson. 

“We work on donations and fundraising so the more bodies we have the more (we can do).”

The level of commitment is not high, and being a part of CIB means you get to help see the community bloom, so to speak. During the winter months there may be a meeting or two, and in the spring things begin to pick up.  

“In the spring time there are a few planting bees, work bees to say build the garden. We’ll do a blitz on the Saturday and usually we get 10 to 12 people out including kids and wives and husbands and usually we can get a project done,” said Wilson.

There are times when some of the work is contracted out to finish bigger projects that maybe they can’t do or certain things need to be done. Wilson said CIB is trying to do more weekend blitzes to get more people out, but then they need to get more projects to be able to do that.  

“My hope, I would just like to see (us) bringing in some younger people. I think having younger families involved just builds a better community, yes you can all be friends on Facebook but building a community, the friendship bonds (are invaluable),” said Wilson.

Anyone with an interest in gardening and beautifying the community is encouraged to volunteer with Communities in Bloom and can get started by contacting Melody Wilson at melody@peapatch.ca.