Kamsack residents are making those last-minute touches on their gardens, pulling stray weeds, pinning up leggy sweet peas, cutting their lawns and making sure no debris has found its way on their yards, streets and sidewalks.
Why?
Because on Monday and Tuesday two judges from the Communities in Bloom competition will be in town, looking at everything and judging the physical appearance of the community.
“We earned a high score of four blooms last year,” Kev Sumner, Kamsack’s recreation director, said.
He, along with an organizing committee, are spearheading a co-ordinated effort to present the community in its best light to the judges.
The Communities in Bloom (CiB) program is a wonderful way to shine a positive light on Kamsack, Sumner said. “It is a way of saying that we’re proud of what we have, that we can identify with our community and that we encourage volunteerism.”
A total of 43 communities participated in the Communities in Bloom program last year, he said, adding that being recognized by the program is significant at the SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) and SPRA (Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association) levels.
For the competition, communities are judged in six sections: tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape and floral displays. Last year Kamsack received 744 points out of 1,000, or a mark of 75 per cent, which garnered the four blooms.
In the evaluation report, the judges said that the landscape and environmental actions carried out by the community were particularly well done.
“There were two areas we felt were outstanding,” the report states. “The first was the unusual free joint use agreements with the school division (use of school facilities and the rink) and the health region (Family Resource Centre). The other area was your ongoing work to increase the inclusivity of the school playground for wheelchairs, the increasing number of sidewalk ramps for walkers and strollers and the grinding down of heaved sidewalk sections.
“Enhancing the quality of life for all ages in a community is an on-going, and sometimes, difficult struggle.”
Coming to Kamsack on Monday and Tuesday to evaluate Kamsack are: Bonita Lundberg of Saskatoon and Arlene Janzen of White City.
The Town of Kamsack will provide the judges with one night accommodation, Sumner said. A potluck supper will be served for the volunteers of the Kamsack and District Horticulture Society and the Trackside Garden workers.
It may be possible to obtain services of an aircraft so that the judges can have an aerial view of the community like they did last year.
The judges said they had appreciated the flight over the community and said that although the impetus of competing…came from the town office, the inclusion of volunteers and ‘civilians’ on the planning committee cannot be over stressed.
“The most successful CiB communities are the result of a close working relationship between the town and the volunteers.”
Results of the judge’s visit are expected to be known later in the summer.
