Communities in Bloom
[ ABOUT THE PROGRAM | JUDGING PROCEDURES
| RESPONSIBILITIES | REGISTRATION ]
About the Program
Communities in Bloom is a Canadian organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through
community participation and the challenge of a national competition.
The benefits of participating are:
- Increase in civic pride and the community involvement by the challenge of a national evaluation
- Availability of information from the jury and through the national network to improve the
municipalities quality of life.
- Provincial and National visibility through Communities in Bloom marketing and media campaign.
- National promotional opportunities at the National Awards ceremony.
- Possibility of International competition at the Nations in Bloom and the Bloom Challenge
- Fundraising Venues
The participating municipalities form a local committee comprised of city/town staff, citizens, and businesses to
involve the community by means of:
- Local contests
- Fundraising events and promotions
The committee will also prepare for judging that takes place in July or August and attend, if they wish, the
Awards Ceremony to promote their community.
Judging Procedure
The program is a two stage process where municipalities begin competing at the provincial level and, depending on their performance, graduate to the national competition the next
year if they so desire. Both editions consist of the municipalities being evaluated on the accomplishments of their entire community (municipal, private,
corporate and institutional sectors, and private citizens) in regards to:
- Tidiness
- Landscaped areas
- Turf Areas
- Heritage Conservation
- Urban Forestry
- Floral Arrangements
- Environmental effort
- Community involvement
The evaluation in July or August is done by a team of two qualified judges from different provinces.
The participating municipalities are divided into the following population categories:
- 1-1,500
- 1,501-5,000
- 5,001-10,000
- 10,001-20,000
- 20,001-50,000
- 50,001-100,000
- 100,001-300,000
- over 300,000
Participants in both editions become a part of a network that provides promotional opportunities,
information exchange across the country and participation in the Awards Ceremonies.
Responsibilities
The participating municipalities have the following responsibilities:
- to involve their community in the project
- to pay a registration fee based on the following population categories
|
Provincial |
National |
| 1 - 5,000 |
$200 |
$400 |
| 5,001 - 50,000 |
$300 |
$600 |
| over 50,000 |
$500 |
$900 |
Money is used to:
- Prepare for the judging which takes place in July or August
- Provide transportation from the nearest airport and lodging (two nights) for the two judges (billeting
is most acceptable)
- Attend, at their expense, the provincial and/or national awards ceremonies where they will have the
opportunity to promote their community
Registration
Upon Registration, the participants receive documents on:
- How to organize an effective working committee and run a local contest to involve everyone
- Summary of local organization (examples of what past participants have done)
- Fund raising venues (to raise funds for participation)
- Media Relations (to get the media involved)
- Copyright protection (sponsorship information)
- Evaluation guide and grid (criteria)
Communities in Bloom
112 Terry Fox street
Kirkland QC H9H 4M3
Telephone: (514) 694-8871
Fax: (514) 694- 3725
E-mail: bloom.fleurs@sympatico.ca
Cutting from the Two Hills & County Chronicle Tuesday March 5, 2002.
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