What began as a Canada-wide floral competition in 1995 has evolved into something much more. Now in its 20th season, Communities in Bloom continues as a program in which a community’s civic pride and its achievements are at the forefront, and the opportunity for communities to network with one another is perhaps its greatest benefit.
“In the beginning, we were just a contest,” admitted Raymond Carriere, founding president of Communities in Bloom. “But even at the very first awards ceremony, people were telling us this is something that allows us to celebrate civic pride and to showcase our achievements, and to this day we get testimonials and comments. It brings the community together.”
Involved since the beginning, Carriere said the program’s metamorphosis from a contest to an organization was largely due to the opportunities available for a vast exchange of information among the participating communities.
Communities in Bloom entered into partnerships with such organizations as Trees Canada and the Composting Council of Canada. Such relationships allowed participating communities to learn more about tree maintenance, composting and other valuable practices.
“The reason why we grew from a contest to an organization is because we’re there about exchanging information.”
Carriere, who had previously been involved in a similar program in Quebec, said it was a challenge to originally sell the concept on a Canada-wide basis. The Quebec in Bloom program involved parks managers and people from the industry who were dedicated toward bringing beautification to greenspaces. No other provinces had such programs of their own at the time.
It was a challenge to explain the concept of the proposed program outside of Quebec, but 29 municipalities across the country bought into Communities in Bloom for its 1995 inaugural year.
“It wasn’t just a beauty contest or about the flowers. It was about engaging your community.”
Communities which opted not to participate in the beginning figured the program was strictly about flowers. To help market the program accordingly, two tag lines were adopted: “Enter the beauty contest that everybody wins” and “It’s not just about flowers.”
The media coverage generated during the first year of Communities in Bloom along with word-of-mouth advertising allowed the program to explode over the years from its initial 29 communities to upwards of 500 at its peak. The number of participating communities has since leveled off to between 300 and 400, but it’s still going strong, Carriere said.
An agency which helped with the program’s growth was the National Capital Commission.
Communities in Bloom is not for profit, yet it has expenses each year which are offset by its sponsors. Scott’s, Home Hardware and CN are currently its three major sponsors, and others such as The Toro Company and Nutrite provided valuable seed money sponsorships in the beginning.
“You’re always looking for that additional sponsor or funding that will allow you to do that one thing more.”
Carriere said the various sponsors which have come and gone throughout the program’s 20-year history have each been loyal and respectful of the program, and Communities in Bloom has been “blessed” by their involvement.
“They go over and above the call of duty.”
Of the 29 original participating municipalities, four have participated each and every year: Edmonton, Alta.; Stratford, Ont.; Rosemere, Que.; and Summerside, P.E.I.
Charlottetown, P.E.I, which has been with the program since its second year, will be the host city in the fall for Communities in Bloom’s awards program and national symposium.
Brandon, Man. was among the original 29 participating municipalities, but took the following year off to concentrate on its hosting of the Canada Summer Games. From the third year onward, the city hasn’t missed a year.
Carriere said Oshawa, Ont. missed the program’s inaugural year, but has been registered every year since even though it hasn’t actively competed in recent years. The city continues to have its own active Communities in Bloom committee.
Participating communities are grouped according to their population sizes so that they will compete against other like-sized municipalities. The numbers determining minimum and maximum population sizes have been tweaked somewhat during the years to ensure fairness. At one time, a population class of more than 300,000 existed, but Carriere said the number of participating metropolitan areas of such size can be counted today on one hand.
“That’s where our numbers of participants have declined…in the larger cities.”
He cited budget cuts and downsizing as a couple of reasons for larger cities no longer wishing to participate.
Carriere said Communities in Bloom’s strongest representation is among communities of less than 20,000 in population.
The program has a strong presence in Alberta and Saskatchewan and has Whitehorse, Yukon back this year after a lengthy absence. Carriere said he’d like to see a stronger presence in Atlantic Canada as well as northern and eastern Ontario.
In 2008, Communities in Bloom introduced a special category for Canadian Armed Forces bases, but budget cuts within the Department of National Defence has shrunk the number of partcipating bases this year to only three.
Communities in Bloom is looking ahead to 2017 when Canada will celebrate its 150th birthday as a nation. Carriere said the program hopes to play an active role in the national celebration plans by joining Butchart Gardens and the Canadian gardening industry in encouraging each of the provincial capitals to plant a commemorative garden.
The success over the years of Communities in Bloom inspired the United States to put together a similar program of its own. America in Bloom is a “copy and paste” of Communities in Bloom, Carriere said.
“They hired us to show them how it was done.”
America in Bloom has been in existence for about 10 years, but tends to attract different participating communities each year without the same type of return rate experienced in Canada.
Carriere said he has had discussions of late with Turkey about launching a similar program.
He was quick to note, however, that the concept of Communities in Bloom wasn’t a Canadian invention, but a blend of similar programs from Great Britain, France and Ireland. Communities in Bloom remains in touch with those European countries that inspired the program.
Carriere said Communities in Bloom is currently in a transition period.
“I compare us to ParticipAction. We’re a little like that. Our transition for the next five years is to consolodate that of going from being a contest-focused organization or program to being more of a participative program.”
One of the challenges faced by Communities in Bloom is to maintain the interest of past winners or achievers of five-bloom ratings which might feel they have gone as far as they can in the program.
“But the interest is there,” Carriere said, adding he has yet to speak with a community official who has said his community has been there and done that and no longer wishes to be involved.
Instead, many of these municipalities are looking to become involved again yet are asking what is new or what appealing aspects can be implemented.
“That’s our challenge for the next five years, of that transition of being a competition-focused program to a participation-focused program.”
Carriere feels the highlight for him of Communities in Bloom is the coming together of municipalities, including the energy of volunteers and the successes of seeing people working together.
“Overall, the main thing is having been part of celebrating that pride of the community throughout Canada. It’s a simple recipe, but it works.”
Comments from officials whose municipalities have participated in Communities in Bloom:
• “We first thought Communities in Bloom would be about flowers blooming and then we realized that the people in the Community were the ones to really blossom.” — Louisbourg, N.S.
• “In a newly amalgamated municipality, CIB has brought people from opposite ends of this huge geographic area to work together toward a common goal… community involvement is phenomenal. It is often a combination from horticultural societies, BIAs, chambers (of commerce), service groups and just concerned citizens.” — Monica Moore, Chatham-Kent, Ont.
• “Likemany other small communities, Hampton depends heavily on its volunteers to get the job done. There is a real sense of accomplishment generated in the community, a ‘yes, we can’ attitude.” — Laurie Mills, Hampton, N.B.
• “The networking opportunities that CIB provides through its website, national sponsors, info packages, judges’ visits along with the awards ceremonies.” — Dean Dietrich, Neepawa, Man.
• “Outstanding program with sound and well established science and rigour. In essence, a very good independent performance measurement and public reporting mechanism. Continue to stay focused on plants, people, pride and the fundamentals of sustainable, healthy, vibrant communities through the established criteria areas.” —Stephen King, national/international judge, CiB
• ‘Overall, the program is a great tool for our community to focus our beautification efforts around. The ‘friendly competition’ aspect of it is a nice incentive to get as many people as possible involved with our program. The support and direction that our committee received from the CiB coordinator was very helpful and valuable in ensuring we were ready for the judges’ visit.” — Jackie Blatz, Town of Beaumont, Alta.
• “Communities in Bloom is a good program because it encourages communities to celebrate their successes, identify the areas for improvement and opportunities to learn from them, to learn from other communities as to best practices.” — Brad Beatty, City of Stratford, Ont.
• “We are undoubtedly better for having participated in this program. It brings awareness to environmental issues that I don’t see anywhere else. The media attention is very helpful to getting the message out to the public and, again, the awareness.” — Brenda Ebear, 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta.
• “Communities in Bloom has been and continues to be a wonderful group of volunteers who, through their efforts, have awakened a sense of pride and care in our community by our citizens. Newcomers to Forestburg state our community is very clean and attractive, in large measure, due to the efforts of our awesome volunteers with Communities in Bloom.” — Mayor Peter Miller, Village of Forestburg, Alta.
• “As chair and longtime committee member, I see as well as hear from others what an impact the Communities in Bloom program has had on our community… we hear comments from residents and visitors what a beautiful, clean city we live in… the program has inspired all of us to do our part and with tremendous co-operation from residents, City council and the parks department we are able to come with ideas and know that anything is possible. Years ago a vice-president of the company our daughter works for commented to her that Brooks has an abundance of plastic flowers around the city… last year he commented how beautiful Brooks is and how did the change happen? She said, ‘Communities in Bloom.’” — Marilyn Jackson, chair, Communities in Bloom, City of Brooks, Alta.
• “Communities in Bloom has built community capacity in a variety of ways, including the business community through the business beatification awards and the involvement of residents on the volunteer committee, ‘Together Let’s Bloom.’ As previous national winners of Communities in Bloom, residents of Medicine Hat understand and support the program. Communities in Bloom has heightened the sense of pride in our community and we are very excited to be involved.” — Ted Clugston, Mayor, City of Medicine Hat, Alta.
• “By promoting community beautification, Communities in Bloom fosters a sense of civic pride and environmental stewardship in our region. The program encourages our staff, volunteers, and citizens, to continually work towards community improvement, which in turn makes our region a wonderful place to live, work, play and stay for everyone. Communities in Bloom affords us the opportunity to showcase to the rest of Canada the many exciting things happening in this community as we strive to become a global model for sustainable living in the north.” — Mayor Melissa Blake, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alta.
• “Participation in the Communities in Bloom program has provided our community with a much broader awareness of what make a community beautiful. Through this program, our residents are involved in a number of initiatives largely dedicated to proving education on choice of flowers, shrubs and trees, watering guidelines and conservation, tidiness, volunteering and sustainability. The pride in our community continues to grow, and winning our national category was an amazing accomplishment. The Village of Ashcroft is proud to be associated with the Communities in Bloom program.” — Andy Anderson, Mayor, Village of Ashcroft, B.C.
• “The Communities in Bloom program has truly been a tremendous benefit to our community, not only by beautifying our surroundings but also by promoting community pride. The CiB volunteer dedication has resulted in improved tidiness, environmental awareness, community involvement, and natural and cultural conservation in Castlegar. The City of Castlegar genuinely appreciates the Communities in Bloom program and the programs of many dedicated volunteers.” — Mayor Lawrence D. Chernoff, City of Castlegar, B.C.
• “I cannot think of anything that has had more of a positive impact on the town than this program. With our entering the international challenge last summer, the community became very interested and engaged in showcasing our community, and as a result earning five blooms was a wonderful result shared by the entire community. The biggest benefit was the coming together of the entire community.” — Liz Chisholm, Deputy Mayor and Chair, Beautification Committee, Town of Antigonish, N.S.
• “The Communities in Bloom program serves as both a promoter and a connector to active citizenship in Brandon. It plays a vital role in providing businesses, municipal government and citizens with a framework that demonstrates that everyone can influence and shape decisions within the city and that their achievements can be a source of pride and inspiration to everyone. From the personal achievements of citizens being recognized for their beautification of their yards, to the youth being recognized for the growing of their vegetables, to the corporations and the municipality being recognized for their urban forestry efforts, Brandon is proud to be a long-time supporter of the Communities in Bloom program.” — Mayor Shari Decter Hirst, City of Brandon, Man.
• “The Communities in Bloom program allows Whitby to promote our accomplishments in the protection and enhancement of our natural environment and water resources; assets that play an important role in the quality of life for our residents.” — Mayor Pat Perkins, Town of Whitby, Ont.
• “The Communities in Bloom organization has greatly benefited the City of Charlottetown. It encourages us to implement new initiatives and strive to increase beautification and sustainability within our city. We are pleased to be hosting the 2014 Communities in Bloom national awards and ceremonies in Charlottetown next year.” — Mayor Clifford Lee, City of Charlottetown, P.E.I.
• “We have participated in the CIB program for several years. It is really encouraging to look back and see all the improvements and projects that have helped make our community shine in so many ways. Each year some small changes and big ideas have added up to lots of community spirit and support.” — Malcolm Eaton, Mayor, City of Humboldt, Sask.
• “We found the complete program very interesting and thorough. The amount of help and assistance given by all concerned deserves nothing but the highest praise. The judging process was thorough, professional and probing. We look forward to the judges’ evaluation and in particular to any suggestions as to how we can improve our community. We hope to avail of the opportunity provided to make contact with other communities in our group, when best practices can be shared with the possibility of establishing even closer links.” — Richard Barry, Tallanstown, Ireland.
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