Communities in Bloom judges were in Taber last week, and the duo had good things to say about the community and its people.
Bloom representatives Rhonda Schindeler and Lucy Chang took a Taber town tour last Thursday, which included downtown, the golf course and numerous hot spots throughout the community.
For Chang, it was the amount of support the community provides, in terms of brightening up various areas like Cenotaph park, for example, that struck her as positive.
“I can see a lot of volunteer effort in town with the planters, landscaping and the tidiness of the town. I hope the town will take pride in the cenotaph area and continue to maintain that.”
She added having a clean community is important, and not just for when communities in Bloom makes its annual visit.
“I would hope the tidiness is ongoing all year, and not just when the judges are here, because tourists drop in all the time.”
Volunteer cleaning efforts were, in fact, ramped up before the Communities in Bloom visit, as members of Green and Clean Taber, and various helpers, spent much of last Wednesday night cleaning up areas around the Taber Community Centre and downtown, in preparation for a visit from the judges.
That’s certainly not uncommon, as towns across the country want to put a good foot forward for Communities in Bloom, a program Chang added encourages residents to take a little more pride in their towns.
“Many towns participate in the program because the program involves every part of the community to take part in.”
Without various volunteers, like service clubs, church groups or organizations like Green ad Clean and Taber’s own Communities in Bloom committee, Chang said much of the work would simply not get done.
“Everyone has to contribute, not just your little Communities in Bloom committee.”
For her part, Schindeler was impressed with the Japanese garden area in town, and by the Taber Golf Club, as the judges were taken for a tour of the course by the club’s Mike Galvin.
The judges began their tour in the morning, and wrapped things up by about 4 p.m. that afternoon.