Five blooms and a special recognition.That's what the City of Humboldt came away with from the 18th Edition of the Communities In Bloom National Awards ceremonies, held this year in Edmonton on October 13.Sheila Nordick attended the symposium, representing Humboldt's Communities in Bloom (CIB) committee. "It was great," Nordick effused. "We won five out of five blooms - that's the most you can get. It's kind of like getting an A."It was the second time the city had entered the national competition. In 2011, Humboldt received four blooms, and this year committee chair Cori Norman, Nordick and Darrell Lessmeister (also director of the city's Department of Leisure Services) were ecstatic to have achieved the maximum number of blooms possible in only two years.Although Humboldt was awarded the maximum number of blooms, the city didn't win the overall prize in its category, which was for communities with a population of between 3,001 and 6,500. That prize went to Jasper, Alberta. Nordick explained that the number of blooms accorded to all entrants is based on a point system. When the judges come to visit the city, they give it an evaluation based on eight criteria, awarding points that are tallied at the end. Humboldt's total for 2012 was 828.25 points out of a possible total of 1,000. With 82.825 per cent, the city slid into the five-bloom category, which required a score of 82 or better. The special recognition was for the city's work on reclaiming the land that was used to build Water Ridge Park. "The biggest part is not winning, " said Lessmeister. "The biggest part, in our opinion, is the community pride and getting people together. And having someone come from the outside to see things that we don't see, and give us suggestions through the evaluation given by the judges."And it's not too soon for the committee members to be putting their heads together for next year, Nordick says. "We start now," she said, "looking at the judges' evaluation and thinking what we can take from them and thinking how we can improve."One of the advantages of being at the conference, according to Nordick was the networking she could do with the other people that were attending. That provided lots of new ideas, plus they had a session with the judges who made suggestions for different things the committee could work on. "There's some new programs for trying to involve children through the school curriculum," she added.In the national competition, Humboldt was running in the same category with seven other cities. They were the Municipality of Jasper and the Town of Vegreville, both in Alberta, Hope, B.C., Sussex and St. Stephen, N.B., Bay Roberts, N.L., and the town of Kindersley, which entered non-competitively. Of the eight communities, only three achieved five blooms.Now that they have the results of the 2012 event, the committee has already been discussing what areas it will focus on in the run up to next year's competition. Norman spoke about the need to establish a communications plan."Last year, our community profile was our priority," Norman said. "This year, the priority seems to be the marketing and communication. We want to raise awareness, not only for the residential, but also the commercial and industrial sectors as well."Something the public can look forward to in 2013 will be a Communities in Bloom float in the annual parade on the Summer Sizzler weekend. It will be a first for the committee, and they think it's time for a float. Also, it will help them in the process of getting ready for the judges' visit to the city in August."The float will come at a really good time," Norman said. "It's those last four weeks (before the judges come) that the residents of the community and the businesses can still act to get their backyards tidy and so on."Humboldt's Communities in Bloom committee are also actively recruiting volunteers to come on board and be part of the movement to beautify the city."We can always use volunteers," said Norman. "Whether it's painting the fire hydrants or working in one of our gardens or even sitting on the board. "Or if someone has an idea - because all ideas are welcome," she added. "An idea can blossom from just about anywhere and anytime, and having many people together to come up with different things provides opportunities that we as a group may not be able to access."Nordick, Norman and Lessmeister were all adamant about the role the community has played in helping the city reach its goal with the Communities in Bloom program. "We want to make sure we thank the citizens of Humboldt," Nordick said. "It's through their participation that we have managed to achieve the five blooms, and we want them to continue to support us."
