Castlegar’s Communities in Bloom program is asking residents to make the community look its best before judges arrive on July 19.
The city is competing in the Grand Champion category this year.
“Community appearance reflects an overall effort by the municipality, businesses, institutions and residents, to creative great first impressions,” program chair Darlene Kalawsky said in a news release. “Let’s work together and make our community look fantastic.”
The judges are Berta Briggs from Alberta and Larry Hall from Saskatchewan. Castlegar is up against Rosemère, Quebec and Coquitlam in its category.
“The marking is very fine,” Kalawsky says. “As much as 0.5 can give you an edge over the other communities.”
Over the next week, she says Castlegarians can help their neighbors and business by picking up and recycling any litter, sweeping and pressure washing store fronts, weed whacking boulevards, weeding and tidying yards, and getting rid of any visible unused items.
Castlegar has participated in the Communities in Bloom program since 2004 and has consistently achieved five blooms recognition, winning provincial, national and international competitions. Kalawsky says their goal is to keep the city’s five-bloom status
In addition to outstanding achievement awards, Castlegar has also been recognized for tidiness, landscape management, heritage conservation, and received the Landscape Reclamation Award for Millennium Park and Ponds.
The Communities in Bloom program’s goal is to inspire communities to enhance the quality of life and environment through people and plants, to create community pride.
Castlegar’s group is a volunteer-driven organization which put in hundreds of hours year-round to beautify the community.