Mission accomplished.
The St. Paul Champions for Change society’s desire for the community to earn “five bloom” Communities in Bloom (CIB) status was realized on Sat. Sept. 12, in Whitecourt at a celebration banquet honouring the communities that took part in the competition.
Champions for Change board member Penny Fox was thrilled with the accomplishment, saying, “This is amazing. Getting a “five bloom” rating was the goal. I just want to thank the whole town for coming on board to help us achieve this goal.”
In addition to the participating communities finding out about its own “bloom” rating, the winners of the provincial competition were revealed.
St. Paul ultimately earned runner-up placement in the competition category that featured communities with a population between 2,001 and 6,000 people. The community of Provost — a town in central Alberta with a population of 2,041 people — was declared as category winner. This category also featured the communities of Barrhead (four “blooms”) and Fox Creek (three “blooms).
As a result of its win, Provost has received an invitation to participate in the national CIB competition in 2016.
While the Alberta CIB committee does recognize winners at this ceremony, they also acknowledge that any community that decides to make an effort to better itself is a winner.
The Town of St. Paul has taken that message to heart.
“In our three years in this competition, we have improved our score every year,” says Gary Ward, the town’s recreational director and a board member with Champions for Change.
This year marked the first time that residents in the community took part in the CIB competition. The CIB judges visited a few home gardens during their tour of the community back in late July.
Fox says she got a sense when the judges visited that the “overall community involvement” to beautify St. Paul may have helped the town earn its coveted “five bloom” rating. She adds that the judges also recognized “the impressive work being done at the community landfill” during their visit.
According to Ward, the community should receive its official competition scoring breakdown sheet within the next few weeks. That document will also include suggestions from the judges on how the community can improve for the 2016 competition.
St. Paul’s 2015 score will be at least an 82. An 82 is the minimum score that a “five bloom” community can receive. The town received a final score of 78 in 2013 and a final score of 80 in 2014.
St. Paul, and the other participating communities, was evaluated on the following criteria: Tidiness; Environmental Action; Heritage Conservation; Urban Forestry; Landscape and Floral Displays.
Fox said at some point a sign will be set up outside town promoting St. Paul as a “Five Bloom” community. Discussions will be held to determine when that sign will be officially unveiled.
