On July 26–27, the Niverville chapter of Communities in Bloom (CiB) played host to two judges from the provincial CiB organization. After three years of absence, the judges were back in town for a tour of the community and to reacquaint themselves with the local volunteers who make Niverville a beautiful place to live.
Judge Barb Forster hails from Rossburn and is new to CiB judging this year. She was accompanied by Hugh Skinner of Roblin, a veteran CiB judge who’s been visiting and critiquing communities for 15 years. Five of those years were served as a national CiB judge.
CiB Canada celebrated its first year as a national beautification organization in 1995. Four years later, the first Manitoba chapter was created. CiB Manitoba is administered by a part-time program coordinator and a volunteer board.
Over the years, more than 60 Manitoba communities have been involved as CiB members. Niverville joined the ranks eight years ago.
CiB Manitoba is driven by a commitment to help foster civic pride through beautification initiatives taken on by local volunteers. In recent years, the organization has also looked at these efforts through the lens of climate change and environmental concerns.
CiB judges are asked to evaluate the communities they visit based on six criteria. The first is the effort taken towards tidiness of the community’s buildings and structures in terms of weed, litter, and graffiti.
Next, they check parks and greenspaces for floral and ornamental plant displays and evaluate landscaped areas based on colour, texture, regional suitability, the incorporation of native species, and maintenance.
The urban canopy matters, too, in terms of long- and short-term planning and care of a healthy tree population.
Judges also assess a community based on environmental action initiatives regarding waste and sewage disposal, pest management and water conservation.
Finally, they look for a clear emphasis on heritage preservation in each community.
“We’ve de-emphasized the competitive nature of the provincial program,” Skinner told The Citizen. “We do an evaluation and you’ll get a score. In the national program it’s very competitive, but we’ve decided in the provincial program it’s better to encourage participation. We think that the communities that are involved in CiB derive a significant benefit from having outside eyes come in and look at their community and offer constructive criticism.”
Niverville should be receiving their report card from the CiB judges in a couple of months, Skinner says, once they’ve completed their assessment and compiled a list of short- and long-term recommendations.
Niverville CiB committee member Shirley Hoult says they take those recommendations very seriously.
“Every year we collect the recommendations and we put together a presentation on how we as a committee can help the community reach some of those recommendations,” Hoult says. “We present that to the town council prior to their annual planning meeting. It’s obvious that they have actually taken what we’ve presented to heart and improvements have been made.”
Both Skinner and Forster were impressed by their meeting with Mayor Myron Dyck during their short stay.
“When we had our meeting with the mayor this morning, he showed significant vision for the future,” Skinner said.
CiB Niverville is comprised of eight volunteer members: Shirley Hoult, Annette Bryant, Carla Janzen, Erin Reimer, Heather Watt, Nazli Sharma, Roz Krahn, and Terry Martin.
Annette Fast is a member of the Steinbach Horticultural Society and a Niverville community champion who has long been investing her expertise into local beautification and growing initiatives alongside the CiB board.
On July 28, the committee hosted a luncheon for the judges and invited all of this year’s community Green Thumb award winners to attend.
On display were more than 500 poppies which had been hand crocheted by local women. These will be draped over the fence near the Remembrance Day cairn from November 1–11 this year.
Thanks to their partnership with Tim Hortons, the Niverville CiB was able to present a cheque to volunteers of the Golden Friendship Circle, assisting them with their kitchen renovation project.
Skinner took a moment to address the group gathered for the luncheon.
“I judged in the national program for five years and it was the most interesting engagement that I’ve had in my life,” Skinner told them. “I’ve travelled from Castlegar, B.C. to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and people show you the best of what they have to offer.”
