Calling all civic pride! The best news I have heard this season is that the folks at the Town of Chestermere are entering the Town into the Communities in Bloom program! An upscale and very respected national community beautification program, Communities in Bloom (Canada) joins several other international, non-profit organizations dedicated to ameliorating the landscape, environment, and ultimate quality of life of communities around the country. The Canadian Communities in Bloom program provides a forum for municipalities and their citizens to work together to create outdoor living spaces that are attractive, environmentally healthy, and reflective of the unique qualities of each individual community; founded in 1995, the past 18 years of the program have seen some amazing municipal revitilizations for involved communities.
Basically, there are eight benchmark categories that the program uses to evaluate participating municipalities. They are listed below with some ideas for winning communities.
1) Tidiness – How clean is your community? Grab some gloves and a garbage bag next time you take the kids to the park, help the elderly lady across the street with the weeds along her back fence, and involve the youth on your block in your clean-up efforts.
2) Environmental Action – For the well-being of our community and the entire globe, let’s respect Mother Nature. Practice the 4 R’s (reduse, reuse, recycle, respect) by composting, taking the papers to the recycling bin, setting a timer on your sprinkler, etc.
3) Heritage Conservation – How well do we preserve the identity of our community? A young and vibrant community (over half of the population is under 35 years old), Chestermere has grown rapidly over the past decade, the growth spurred by wonderful recreational opportunities (Chestermere is an “outdoor town” – terrific pathways, parks, and the lake get most of us outside on a regular basis), small-town feel, affordable living, and close proximity to Calgary. The Town’s website (www.chestermere.ca) says it best: “As Alberta’s fastest growing municipality, the Town of Chestermere has rapidly evolved from a lakeside summer village into a dynamic, recreational oasis for nearly 16000 residents.” How we preserve that identity is up to each of the residents, but a great starting point may be to ask yourself “Why did I choose Chestermere for my family?” Clearly the best way to ensure that our town retains its vitality is to participate in keeping our identity strong – let’s promote the fact that we are one of the best communities in the world to live by being active in our community, taking part in making Chestermere a beautiful place for all residents and visitors.
4) Urban Forestry – The Town has long promoted the idea of planting trees. Urban forestry provides structure and elegance in the landscape, and benefits both the citizens and environment by providing shade, cleaning the air, and giving oxygen. You can help out by planting a tree in your own yard, and/or a shrub or two!
5) Landscape – How do the community’s landscaping effort fit into and ameliorate the larger surroundings? Try planting some native trees/shrubs/perennials in your yard, keep your lawn healthy and weed-free, and give yourself a lift by incorporating a piece of inspiring hardscaping in your yard, such as a bench, wagon wheel, feature stone, etc. When one household makes a small effort to beautify their yard, and then the next household does the same, and the next household after that does the same again, the effect can be beautiful, tree-lined streets with wonderful displays at each home.
6) Floral Displays: Let your imagination be your guide! Some of the prettiest flowerbeds and baskets I have seen in Alberta have been right here in Chestermere; despite some of the challenges that our soil can pose, the gardening spirit is strong and it shows through the lovely hanging baskets, pots, and flowerbeds dotted throughout town. This season the Town is promoting planting Chestermere’s colors of blue and white. Some gorgeous, high-performing annuals to choose from that come in blue and white are petunias (blue and white), geraniums (white), lobelia (blue and white), agapanthus (blue), bacopa (white), pampas grass (white), fuchsia (white), marigolds (cream-white), salvia (blue and white), pansies (blue and white), and impatiens (white.) The Town is coordinating its own fun competition for the residents in this stream, called “Chestermere’s Best Overall Yard,” with great prizes for the winners. More onthe competition will be upcoming in the Town’s notices; judging will take place in July. Pop by the local garden nurseries for information and to pick up your own Communities in Bloom stake to place in your yard. Let’s make our town floriferous and inspiring!
7) Turf & Groundcovers: So much of the “flooring” of what we see in the outdoor landscape is turf, from the town parks to the schoolgrounds to the lawns in our own yards. By keeping our lawns trimmed and weed free, we can make a sizeable difference in the way our community looks. Simply by watering wisely, overseeding our lawns, and getting rid of weeds, we can make Chestermere a very atrractive, very green community.
8) Community Involvement – The motto of the Communities in Bloom program is “People, Plants, and Pride…Growing Together.” What a terrific summation of what it takes to create a truly successful, inspiring,, invigorating, and sustainable town landscape. Becoming a winning Community in Bloom is so easy and so fun when we work together for the benefit of all. Each of us can contribute meaningfully, either by planting in our own yards, helping with community clean-up, and/or giving a hand to our neighbors and their efforts to do the same. The feeling of a job well done inspires civic pride and is beneficial in every realm. In the social sphere, the friendships that follow from participating in making our great community even better may be lasting ; in the environmental sphere, we are implementing small changes that have great benefits to us all; and in the economic sphere, the augmented visual appearance and vitality of the community are sure to draw more business to our town through means such as tourism.
For more information on the Communities in Bloom campaign, visit www.communitiesinbloom.ca, contact the Town, orvisit a local greenhouse.
