The spillover effect of four years of garden contests has been noticed in Hamiota, Man.
“Our town is definitely changing our looks,” said Gwen Snell, recreation director for the town and a volunteer on the local Communities in Bloom committee.
“It’s a greener, friendlier place,” she said.
“It’s so much more welcoming to see a flower pot outside a business.”
The town turned a former oil facility into a park, planted 400 trees beside the ball field and started a community composting pile. Snell said residents have noticed the town’s efforts and have cleaner yards and a renewed interest in the parks and are contributing money for planting trees on the streets.
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“People, plants and pride” is the motto of the non-profit organization that runs the Communities in Bloom contest. This year, 400 towns in Canada volunteered to be judged on the look of their lawns, trees, parks and gardens. Some towns have teamed up so beginners can learn beauty tips from others. Snell said Virden played a mentorship role this way as one of the first Manitoba towns in the program.
“Virden looks pretty good and they were known as the oil capital of Manitoba,” formerly sporting an industrial rather than garden look, Snell said.
She added that Hamiota may not be able to compete with the money of larger towns, “but we can look nice. I think Manitoba looks much nicer for this program.”
Mundare, Alta., won the provincial contest for its size category in 2000. The town named the petunia as its official flower and one year encouraged residents to plant a red and white colour scheme, said Brenda Dziwenka, one of the volunteer organizers.
There was no colour theme this year but residents participated in a community forestry effort. The town got 270 white spruce seedlings, gave 100 to local residents and donated the rest to the school for a playground. It also created two flower beds using native plants. They are all perennials, which are cheaper than buying annuals and easier to maintain during a hot, dry summer.
Dziwenka said the garden program can be costly.
“That’s why we looked at perennials instead of annuals. For planting, it is easy to get the volunteers, but it’s the maintenance that takes the time. We get the town’s municipal workers to do that.”
But the payoff is rewarding in terms of community spirit and people of all ages pulling together, she said.
Donald Cormier of New Brunswick, who spent mid-July to mid-August visiting and judging 11 communities across Canada, said civic pride brings towns into the program.
Points are awarded in eight categories, including tidiness, heritage conservation, environmental concern and community involvement for municipal, commercial and private areas.
“All the towns we visit are quite neat” said Cormier, who added the biggest difference he noticed in the West was the lack of old buildings compared to Eastern Canada, where settlement goes back three or four centuries.
Several western Canadian towns are in the finals this year, including Sturgis and Moosomin in Saskatchewan, Vermilion and Big Valley in Alberta, Binscarth and Dauphin in Manitoba and Fort St. John and Ladysmith in British Columbia. Five prairie communities – Rycroft, Millet and Viking in Alberta and Birtle and Boissevain in Manitoba – are competing in the small town international challenge against towns in England, Ireland and the United States.
The Canadian Communities in Bloom winners will be named Sept. 27.
