The flowers might not be blooming quite yet in Thompson but the Communities in Bloom subcommittee has been blossoming with fresh ideas on how to beautify the city.
Co-chairs of the subcommittee Roxie Binns and Bruce Holmes, along with members Matthew Pawlow and Betty Landego, were at a city council meeting March 29 to share their planting plans.
This year, Thompson will be competing in the Manitoba Communities in Bloom initiative - a not-for-profit organization that looks to deliver a program that engages communities in the beautification of their surroundings through sustainable approaches to improve quality of life and civic pride, such as sustainable best practices in community involvement, environmental awareness, beautification, heritage preservation, education and networking.
The City of Thompson Communities in Bloom is a subcommittee of the Thompson Downtown Revitalization Committee. Thompson Unlimited provides administrative in-kind support for both committees, and the goal of both entities is to "inspire, enhance and encourage" involvement and community pride throughout Thompson.
The subcommittee is made up of the members that presented at the city council meeting as well as Coun. Erin Stewart, city staffers Angela and Jim English, Jillian Brown, June Bourguignon and Doreen Lindquist. According to Binns, the job of the subcommittee is to organize the local program, act as a liaison with municipal authorities, prepare itinerary for the judges' visit and to produce an information booklet about Thompson which will also be perused by the judges.
This year's objectives for the subcommittee are numerous, and include promoting the City of Thompson Communities in Bloom program to businesses, organizations and residents through local media, presentations and discussions; contests, a community profile book that will act as a "snapshot" of the City of Thompson and can also be used as promotional material; the promotion and participation in community tidiness, environmental awareness, natural and architectural heritage preservation, urban forestry, landscaping areas, community trail development, community market garden and floral displays; and to partner with community groups with similar goals to enhance community pride - for example, Spirit Way and Rotary Park.
The sub-committee has met twice so far, and Holmes says the members have been brainstorming for activities. So far, they've come up with some ideas for a few contests, including a "city pride" event where businesses, rental properties and neighbourhoods will compete with each other as a type of dress rehearsal for the Communities in Bloom event. He adds that to keep everyone on equal footing, individuals in, for example, the Riverside neighbourhood, will compete against each other, while individuals in the Westwood neighbourhood would also compete against their neighbours.
Coun. Charlene Lafreniere suggested the group look at being as environmentally sustainable as possible by planting shrubs, flowers and bushes that are naturally found in the boreal forest environment, and so will need little maintenance and watering.
