ELK POINT – Back-to-back meetings last Wednesday evening showed clearly that Elk Point is in the mood to get out and get growing this spring.
A meeting at Elk Point Further Education saw Sue Campbell, Wanda Cochrane and Donna Bassett elected as the executive for the new Community Gardens group, with plans to locate nine four-by-eight-foot raised beds on a site west of Elk Point Municipal Library where would-be gardeners without their own garden space can raise their own favourite vegetables, herbs and maybe even a flower or two.
One attendee was ready and eager to put down his $20, the cost of renting one of the beds for the 2023 growing season, as soon as that price was determined. The beds will be assigned on a one-year basis, with a limit of one bed per renter at least for the first year, and sharing would be permitted. Further information will be posted on the group’s Facebook page in the near future.
The frames for the beds are already under construction by Doug Lindquist, and will be filled with compost and soil by the Town of Elk Point, with the group eager to see the snow disappear so the exact sites for the beds can be determined when the group does a walk-around of the area.
Elk Point Further Ed is planning to contribute the $2,000 cost of the frames from their soon-to-arrive New Horizons for Seniors grant, giving that most of the potential users may well be seniors from Fort George Manor and Heritage Lodge, who live not far from the site.
Campbell has also applied for a Co-op Community Spaces grant, “and if we get that, we could add a tool shed, a wheelbarrow, a water setup and maybe even a gazebo” to the area. Signage and rules to be followed by garden users will be posted, the group agreed.
Less than an hour later, Elk Point’s Economic Development Committee gathered to hear a presentation by Karen Snethun and Sherry Cote of Communities in Bloom (CiB) Alberta that detailed the objectives and opportunities that organization, under the umbrella of Alberta Recreation and Parks and sponsored by Fortis Alberta, provides to communities.
St. Paul has been with CiB for several years and last year was the Alberta winner for communities of its size, and both Penny Fox and Linda Sallstrom were among the resource people who joined the meeting online and offered their encouragement to get the program underway in Elk Point. Fox had introduced the program to participants in the chamber of commerce networking mixer a few weeks ago and had listed the criteria of the program.
CiB is “very much a community development program,” Snethun said, and one that contributes to mental health, is suitable for all walks of life and promotes exchange of information, networking, media promotion and year-round projects. “You really can use it as an opportunity to be a community hub.” The program has been shown to increase tourism, decrease vandalism, increase both property values and civic pride and improves the quality of life.
After hearing the presentation, Deputy Mayor Tim Smereka said he felt both the community gardens and the Lions fish pond would fit the criteria of possible projects, with Manager of Operations Jay Duffee adding that his department has plans to plant fruit trees and update the banners that decorate the town’s light standards this year.
Participants had the opportunity to check out the evaluation forms used when CiB judges tour the town t, with Snethun suggesting that Elk Point be in the Novice category for the first year, where the judges visit for a day and later provide suggestions for improvement. “Don’t let the process overwhelm you,” she urged, indicating that great improvements can evolve from small beginning projects.
Determining some of those potential projects was the homework that EDC chair Terri Hampson handed out for the next meeting in mid-April. Her own homework will include an information brochure to be distributed in the community that outlines the basics of becoming one of Alberta’s Communities in Bloom.
As the meeting ended, participants were already coming up with suggestions that make it sound like a busy and productive spring and summer for Elk Point, even for those who weren’t quite sure how they felt about CiB’s chosen signature flower color of the year: purple.
