Judges for Communities in Bloom have been in Weyburn today for a tour of various locations around Weyburn.

Weyburn has been participating in the program for a number of years.

“The benefit is the evaluation we get back,” explained Linda Prokott, Parks Co-Ordinator for the City of Weyburn.

It covers everything from environmental initiatives to community tidiness.

“We also tour them around the landfill, cemetery, water treatment plant, as well as show them all of our floral displays,” she added. “So, it’s a wide variety of areas that we get feedback on, and it’s really great to just see kind of where we can improve, what we’re doing well on, and just to get a perspective from a fresh set of eyes.”

This year’s entry is not for the purpose of competition.

“There are different categories that you can participate in for Communities in Bloom,” she explained. “We’re in the Evaluated Friends category, so we’re not competing with other communities. “It’s more just showing the judges all of the beds that the City has planted, and getting back on the floral displays overall.”

The Communities in Bloom representative judges, Bonita Lundberg and Kathy Mickelson, came all the way from Saskatoon for the evaluation.

Lundberg has evaluated communities at the provincial and national level. She said this was her first time evaluating Weyburn.

“This is new to me, but I’ve read your profile book and I’ve seen what they’re doing,” she said.

She said the profile book includes the goals, progress, and accomplishments for the city.

“That’s a really important part,” she explained. “It tells the projects they do, how they get people involved, what their weather has been like, so we know what to expect when we get there.”

She said that it’s not just counting the flowers, as some people might think. Each element being evaluated is a full page of about thirty items each.

“There’s urban forests, landscaping, floral design, heritage and culture, even environmental action,” she explained. “It’s seeing how diversified your community is, and what they’re doing to encourage other people in the community, too.”

Communities in Bloom is about greening through environmental, natural heritage conservation and horticultural actions that involve citizens, businesses, institutions, and municipalities. The program is focused on environmental stewardship through enhancement of green spaces.