There is a lot of work that needs to be done to beautify the city, before Weyburn is ready to compete at the Communities in Bloom campaign. The Weyburn CiB committee decided to stay as a 'Friend' of the provincial Communities in Bloom.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done to beautify the city, before Weyburn is ready to compete at the Communities in Bloom campaign.
The Weyburn CiB committee decided to stay as a 'Friend' of the provincial Communities in Bloom. As a "Friend", Weyburn will not compete at the provincial level this year, but will retain their CiB status and will be eligible for competing in 2014.
There was much discussion from the committee if Weyburn should be an "Evaluated Friend"or just a "Friend" for the 2013 provincial competition.
At first, the Evaluated Friend category sounded like a good fit for Weyburn, as it would have allowed the city to be evaluated by the provincial judges, and qualify for a bloom rating.
However, Claude Morin, superintendent of works and parks for the City of Weyburn, warned the committee of issues that might arise in the city this year due to the potential of an above-average spring runoff.
The city crews will be very busy in the next six to eight weeks, and their spring work might include building dikes.
"Dike building is a mess," said Morin, who also noted that it is a necessary precaution, especially with the potential of excess water during runoff.
"If we have to build dikes, there will be water in River Park again this year," added Morin. The City of Weyburn is still working on recovering River Park, after flooding issues in 2011 had ruined much of the greenery in River Park.
Also, the city has to redo all the underground electrical at River Park, and might have to wait until after spring since there is potential for high runoff.
The city also wants to work on extending the boardwalk this year. There are new elements by the Soo Line Historical Museum that are being planned.
Even though Weyburn won't be competing provincially this year, the annual CiB projects will still be offered. This includes the Adopt-a-Planter program, and the community gardens.
Since Weyburn is marking their centennial year as a city, the CiB committee will be documenting centennial efforts for beautification during the summer. A booklet will be created, so when Weyburn returns to competition, there are some 'before' and 'after' photos regarding how far Weyburn has come along since the flood in 2011.
The CiB committee will continue to meet a few times this year, and they continue to plan for recovery of the city.
The next meeting of the CiB committee will be Friday, May 17 at the Weyburn Fire Hall.
