Can Kamsack duplicate or better its effort of seven years ago when it was named a provincial winner of the Communities in Bloom program?
Many residents, including Kev Sumner, the recreation director, thinks it can.
In April, Sumner registered the community for inclusion in the 2016 Communities in Bloom program, which this year has a total of 43 communities registered in the organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community participation and the challenge of a national program with focus on enhancing green spaces.
In the program, trained volunteer judges visit each of the registered communities to evaluate them and the overall contributions of municipality, businesses, institutions and residents, including volunteer efforts in regards to tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape and floral displays.
“We were so impressed with the tidiness of Kamsack,” said Brenda Winny of Rosetown who toured the community in 2009 with Bonita Lundberg of Saskatoon. The two judges were escorted through Kamsack during a rainy Saturday afternoon by Paul Keys, recreation director; Wendy Becenko, economic development officer and Audrey Horkoff, who represented the Trackside Garden.
“The lots are clean and tidy,” Winny had said. “There’s an absence of trash and we were impressed that there was no graffiti.”
“You’ve got a really nice town here, Lundberg had said. “It’s really good.”
The judges had wanted to see everything, from the sewage lagoon to the Trackside Garden, Keys had said of the tour of the community that he had taken the judges on. Lasting about three hours, the tour included visits to the heritage buildings, the hospital, Eaglestone Lodge, the urban orchard and the parks in addition to four or five private yards.
This year the judges will be in Kamsack on August 10 and 11, Sumner said, adding that “we want to look our best.”
The program is not only for public and residential properties, but also takes into consideration the business core, Sumner said, adding that it is hoped that business owners will make a special effort to see that their businesses look their finest.
“Also, if residents happen to see the judges on their tour of the community, it would be great if they say hello, wave or smile,” he said. “Little things like that always help to make a good impression.”
The winners of the provincial Communities in Bloom program will be announced at the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation annual volunteer awards banquet in Regina in October.
Several invested community groups, including the horticultural society, Royal Purple Elks and representatives of the Trackside Garden and the Victoria School garden who have been involved in the program are holding a potluck supper at the seniors’ centre on August 10 to welcome the judges to the community.
A number of projects have been undertaken in the community since 2009, Sumner said. Trees have been planted along Nykolaishen Drive, the community orchard has been maintained, the first phase of the walking trail is being developed, there’s a new system of recycling and garbage pick-up in town and there are five new dog waste stations.
“We take pride in the community’s playgrounds, which are clean and safe,” he said, adding that efforts have been made to assure general tidiness of the swimming pool, sportsground, the skate park, Riverview Cemetery and other green spaces.
“Every year we try to improve,” he said, explaining that small touches such as the fire hydrant project, which had students paint the hydrants, go towards adding to community pride.
In 2009, Kamsack, in the category of communities with populations of between 1,000 and 2,000, had been awarded a rating of four blooms and received special mention for tree and urban forest management. It had received a mark of 791 out of a possible 1,000 points.
The other communities that were accorded four blooms in 2009 were: Blaine Lake, for a community of up to 500 inhabitants; Kinistino, 500 to 1,000 population, and Assiniboia, 2,000 to 3,000 population.
As provincial winners, those four communities had the opportunity to represent the province in the national Communities in Bloom program.
Out of a possible 125 points that could be earned in each of eight categories, Kamsack had earned the following: tidiness, 102 points; environmental awareness, 94; community involvement, 100; natural and cultural heritage conservation, 90; tree/urban forest management, 112; landscaped areas, 93; floral displays, 97, and turf and groundcovers, 103.
“As we drove into and throughout Kamsack, we were quite impressed with the tidiness of the community, the 2009 report had said. “The employees of the public works department should be treated to a special lunch for their continued efforts in keeping the grassy areas mowed and trimmed.
“We would like to make special mention of the cemetery. It is receiving the treatment a special place deserves,” it said. “The SARCAN centre should also be commended for its tidiness.
“In many communities, the industrial sections of town have a tendency to bring down a town’s tidiness score,” it said. “We would like to thank business owners at the edge of town for their contributions to the tidiness of Kamsack.
“Kamsack has a long list of environmental successes: geothermal heating of the rink with the potential to heat several other buildings; a trained and certified pest management person; is in the process of getting an old oil refinery grounds cleaned up, and has a new water system with the capability of providing water to other communities. The manager at the landfill should be considered as an environmental success for not only does he have a great sense of humour, he is also dedicated to doing his job in a professional manner. There is support of community Green Days and the organization of community-wide garage sales is an effective way of recycling. It has SARCAN facilities and a taxi business.”
“Kamsack is a very busy and vital community with 250 community events in most years,” it said. “Town council publishes community brochures and takes out pages in the newspaper to keep everyone informed about community events.
“All locations where tourists are most likely to stop, there are pamphlets touting all the various activities in the community,” it said. “Students have been involved in landscaping projects such as planting young trees at the sports grounds.”
Regarding natural and cultural heritage conservation, the judges said that they had the feeling that if one lives in Kamsack, he or she probably has a great sense of the cultural background.
“The first home built in Kamsack is still lived in, the museum is excellent (the summer help certainly knows his history) and the cemetery is well cared for and has a directory.
“We saw no evidence of vandalism and graffiti on unoccupied buildings,” it said. “Trackside Garden honours the tradition of railway gardens in our prairie past.”
In the tree/urban forest management segment, the judges said that the tree canopy on several older streets is breathtaking.
“The huge elms are treasured and protected with expert pruning during the acceptable times. There is a wide range of tree species used in yards. The species from Shand Greenhouse were utilized to plant trees around the sports ground.
“At some point, holes were dug in the sidewalk and trees had been planted along Third Avenue. Planting the columnar poplars was a good choice of species, but for some reason, not all trees survived. It is to be hoped the gaps will be replaced soon. The Town maintains and uses a reserve of replacement trees and shrubs. There is also a wildlife orchard within the town limits.
“Kamsack has many green spaces throughout the community. Large yards, old trees and mowing create a community that is very pleasant visually.
“A section of the Trans Canada Trail goes through the community. What a great asset for both tourism and as a facility for your residents.
“We really loved those baskets,” the judges said in the floral displays segment of their report. “Kamsack appears to be the Garden of Saskatchewan.
“With Communities in Bloom, you can never have too many flowers and/or colour in the community. We felt that along the main shopping street there needed to be more colour using flags or flowers or murals or student artwork or anything that catches your eye and causes a person to stop and explore the environment. While the hanging baskets are great, they are high maintenance and need to be closely grouped for visual impact.
“The Trackside Garden is breathtaking,” they said. “The crew of gardeners needs to be thanked for their vision and hard work.
In the Turf and Groundcovers category, the judges said that the condition of the turf in Kamsack is the main reason for the high scores in the tidiness category.
“There is also the usual wide variety of asphalt and pavement ground covers in the community. The sports ground is in great shape.
“It is a very clean, green and active place to live in and to raise a family,” the report says. “We feel that Kamsack has several factors in its favour. The tradition of gardens and gardening is a cultural one- Ukrainian and Doukhobor – therefore lush vegetable gardens as well as flowers were in abundance.
“Kamsack is also one of the few Communities in Bloom where assuming a role in the CIB committee is part of municipal job descriptions and having access to town workers certainly makes a difference in the overall appearance of a community.
“We realize starting out your CIB journey with four blooms means an incredible amount of work needs to be done to move into the five bloom and national competition category. We also know that your community is certainly capable of this goal.”
The judges offered the following suggestions: “keep up your records to show before-and-after progress; find a way to develop a larger community volunteer base; develop the fact you have a provincially famous person in the cemetery- Sarah Ramsland; continue to add those unique baskets in other locations in the community; encourage the downtown area to spruce itself up with more colour and seating areas; work on adding more colour to the highway through town out towards Duck Mountain Provincial Park, and consider the promotion of one of the four cylinder water towers in the province.”
“Thank you for your work, your community spirit and a great cup of coffee,” the judges said.
