On July 28, judges from Manitoba Communities in Bloom were in Thompson to assess the city's aesthetic and environmental appeal as compared to other cities in the province.
"I think they were generally impressed with what we were trying to do and achieve," said Angie English, who helped drive the judges around Thompson and sits on the Thompson Communities in Bloom committee, which is a subcommittee of the Thompson Downtown Revitalization Committee.
The judges were shown the best of what Thompson had to offer, going around residential neighbourhoods in the morning, and sites such as the recycling plant and public works yard in the afternoon, as part of the judging criteria included evaluating Thompson's waste disposal facilities. There was also a quick tour of Vale on the agenda.
"They had to do 80 per cent of the city," English explained, "so we sat down and developed a map to take them everywhere they had to see."
Manitoba Communities in Bloom judges participating cities in eight different categories, tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape, turf and groundcovers, floral displays, and community involvement. The winners in each category, and overall winner, are announced at a September event in Killarney, with national finals in Halifax in late October. Dauphin, Winnipeg, Birtle, Neepawa, Virden, and Binscarth have all won national awards in the past, while Boissevain won five international awards in 2006.
As the cities are judged in their entirety, rather than just on the merits of certain neighbourhoods or public lands, the committee tried to get public help in beautifying Thompson in advance of the judges' arrival. "We tried to do as much as possible to get the word out," English said. "The community stepped up."
Once the awards are handed out in Killarney, ever participating community - including Thompson - will be given a report to show how they stacked up against the rest of the entrants, where their strengths and weaknesses were, what could be done for an improved standing, and so on.
Thompson's Communities in Bloom committee has been involved with a number of other beautification initiatives, including putting up planters on the medians across from Robin's Donuts and Tim Hortons, and starting a friendly competition between members of city council, each of whom were given an individual flowerpot in front of City Hall (as well as one for Coun. Brian Wilson, who died in May). Coun. Stella Locker was judged to have the best flowerpot, as was revealed Aug. 14.
The other major initiative has been the Community Pride contest, for which winners were announced in a ceremony at City Hall on Aug. 14. This contest was for individuals around Thompson to nominate either themselves or their neighbours as having the most beautiful properties in the city. Judging took place Aug. 3 to 6, done by a panel of eight judges who were split into three groups.
Cliff Colter was the big winner, bringing home Best Overall as well as a residential award for Eastwood. Other neighbourhood residential winners included Neil and Jan Fussey in Deerwood, Sandra Timmons in Burntwood, Mary Ernest in Westwood, and Ron Trainor as best among trailer court nominees. Timmons was also a runner-up for Best Overall. For winning the award for Best Green Thumb, Jim and Angie English were presented with a Manitoba Hydro gift basket.
The award for Best Apartment was given to Keith and Donelda Derksen. Northern Lights Bed and Breakfast won the business category, with Northern Spirit Manor taking first prize among institutions, and Sapach Trucking winning the industrial award.
This was Thompson's first year participating in Communities in Bloom, which English noted made it difficult to know exactly what the judges were looking for in the provincial competition. The Thompson Communities in Bloom subcommittee consists of English, Coun. Erin Stewart, Betty Landego, Roxie Binns, Matthew Pawlow, June Bourguignon, Jim English, Doreen Lindquist, Bruce Holmes, and Tanna Teneyche.
