Chatham-Kent’s Communities in Bloom (CiB) volunteers are asking residents and businesses alike to help them showcase Chatham-Kent (CK) to the world.
Chatham-Kent is competing at the International level of the Communities in Bloom competition for the third year in a row. Judges will be kept busy evaluating the entire Municipality from Wednesday July 29 through Saturday August 1.
CK CiB committee volunteers are excited by the opportunity to show Alain Cappelle from Belgium and Richard Daigneault from Ottawa why CK is worthy of maintaining its top 5 Bloom status. The Municipality will be showcasing everything from parks to waterways to historic buildings and more. Tour highlights will include a viewing of the new sculpture at the Tecumseh monument site near Thamesville and a Truly Green greenhouse tour in Chatham. Judges will also have the opportunity to fly over the Municipality in a plane in order to view CK’s rich agricultural landscape.
Throughout the year, CK’s CiB committee volunteers are busy collecting information on what the entire community, its service groups, businesses, schools, and municipal employees are doing in the categories of overall tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, landscape including turf and groundcover, urban forestry, and floral displays.
“Working for Communities in Bloom has opened my eyes to all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make a community flourish. The program is about so much more than flowers; the ultimate focus is on improving the quality of life in each unique community,” said CK’s CiB Marketing and Administrative summer student, Raina DeBrouwer.
Having already provided the judges with proof of CK’s excellence in the judgement criteria via a detailed community profile book, committee volunteers are putting the final touches on plans for the tour portion of the judging. CK CiB encourages everyone to show their community pride by picking up litter, eliminating curb and sidewalk weeds, pampering flowers and gardens, and neatly trimming lawns especially in these last few days leading up to the judges’ visit.
Watch for the international judges to be in your area the following days:
Wednesday, July 29
– Judges arrive from Sarnia (p.m.)
– Tour of Wallaceburg, Mitchell’s Bay, Dresden (p.m.)
Thursday, July 30
– Thamesville, Bothwell, Palmyra (a.m.)
– Ridgetown, Chatham (p.m.)
Friday, July 31
– Flight over the Municipality from the CK Municipal Airport, Blenheim, Erieau (a.m.)
– Wheatley, Tilbury, Chatham (p.m.)
Saturday, August 1
– Leave Chatham-Kent for next judging commitment
For more details on Chatham-Kent Communities in Bloom, visit www.chatham-kent.ca or call 519.360.1998.
