National Communities in Bloom judges Berta Briggs (left) and Larry Hall (right) said the Town of Kinistino's tidiness and floral displays immediately stick out. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Kinistino CiB

‘Tidiness is the first impression’: Communities in Bloom judges visit Kinistino

Jul 19, 2019 | 5:13 PM

Two national Communities in Bloom (CiB) judges spent two days evaluating and learning about the Town of Kinistino from July 18 to 19.

Kinistino CiB, which won the national CiB Small category, is participating with other previous national winners in the same bracket at the Class of Champions level. The judges grade communities up to 1,000 points based on categories such as environmental action, floral displays, heritage conservation, landscape urban forestry, and tidiness.

Berta Briggs has 20 years of judging experience for CiB at the provincial, national, and international level and said this was her first visit to Kinistino.

“The tidiness is the first impression that is quite outstanding,” Briggs told northeastNOW. “You just have to look around and there are flowers everywhere which makes it cheerful. Flowers are the big welcome in a community that reflects so much about the community in its pride and wellbeing.”

Larry Hall, the second judge who has seven years of experience, is evaluating Kinistino for a second time. Other than Kinistino CiB adding a few more stops on the tour and seeing new planted trees and a walking trail, it’s just as he remembered.

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“The neatness of the community isn’t only true of the municipal parks around us, but most of the residential homes,” Hall said. “You see people have pride in their property and look after it; you don’t see a lot of weeds or garbage.”

Kinistino is the third stop for Briggs and Hall – who have already evaluated Hanna, Alta. and Indian Head, Sask. – and they have one more stop in the small category before they return to their respective homes in August to fill out their 20-page evaluation form.

One thing both judges want to make clear is that in the end, no community is truly competing against one another.

“It’s difficult to compare small-town Saskatchewan with small-town Newfoundland,” Briggs said. “The demographic, climate, and taxable base is different, so we always judge against the town’s own potential. It gives a town some more incentive to be the best that they can be because that’s what the whole goal is.”

The results of every Canada CiB category will be announced in late September 2019.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow