(Facebook/Melfort Communities in Bloom)

By Cam Lee

Year in Review

Year in Review: Local Communities in Bloom entries have successful year

Dec 29, 2019 | 12:00 PM

northeastNOW is taking a look back at the biggest and most interesting stories of 2019, as selected by our newsroom:

It was a huge year for local Communities in Bloom programs.

Three local CiB committees shined in 2019, receiving a number of accolades both provincially and nationally.

Melfort

The City of Melfort received five blooms during the Communities in Bloom (CiB) National/International Symposium and Award Ceremonies on Sept. 28 in Yarmouth, N.S.

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Melfort participated in the 2,501 to 7,500 population category and received a coveted five-bloom rating.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled…when we look back at it, we can’t believe all that we accomplished this year alone, so very pleased,” Melfort CiB Committee Member Shannon Marshall told northeastNOW.

Melfort’s 82.5 per cent grade fell short of the 84 per cent needed for a bronze ranking, but the city received an Outstanding Achievement Award for the landscape category, as well as a special mention for the meditation garden at the cemetery.

However, Marshall said the city couldn’t be graded on the cemetery project and the community gardens because they weren’t complete.

Marshall said the committee will once again compete in the national category in 2020.

“We have a little bit more to do out at the community garden, so you’re going to see that going on this year,” said Marshall. “Great floral displays as usual and just wrap up some of the projects that we have going on in the community before we start doing anything big.”

Kinistino

Kinistino received a bronze rating and a special mention for tidiness in the CiB Class of Champions’ Small Category at the national competition in Yarmouth, N.S.

Because Kinistino won the national small category in 2015, they moved up to the Class of Champions category.

“Everybody is so proud of our community,” Bragg told northeastNOW’s Aaron Schulze in September. “Even though we didn’t win, it doesn’t really matter. We still made a big difference in Kinistino and that’s all that really matters in the end.”

Bragg said the competition must have been close, as all four communities in their category finished with bronze ratings.

Kinistino will also compete on a national stage in 2020.

Nipawin

The town of Nipawin returned to the provincial Communities in Bloom competition for the first time in 14 years, and received three blooms out of five.

Their entry won the 3,001 to 4,999 population category, and was given special recognition for its green spaces and parks.

Nipawin Director of Parks and Recreation Chelsea Corrigan works with the Nipawin CiB.

“We feel the town as a whole came together when the judges came, and we showed Nipawin really well,” Corrigan told Aaron Schulze of northeastNOW in Oct.

The entry received special recognition for green spaces and parks, given based on landmarks including the Co-op Band Stand and the tidiness of buildings in Central Park. The judges also noted the urban forests, fruit trees, and flowerpots in Nipawin’s downtown core.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974

With files from Aaron Schulze