The Town of Hafford is fortunate to have a Communities in Bloom (CiB) organization within its community. The organization was established in 2010 by a group of like-minded individuals who saw the benefits of working towards beautifying the community.
Town, business and community support aids in the success of the projects outlined by the CiB members.
"It has to be a community team effort," commented executive chair Sylvia Ruedger while preparing for a barbecue fundraiser last week.
Communities in Bloom is not just about flowers. It encompasses eight defined areas within the community titled: tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape, turf and groundcovers, floral displays and community involvement.
The category of tidiness focuses on the effort made on green spaces, sidewalks, streets, properties, ditches, road shoulders, vacant lots and buildings, signage, graffiti and vandalism.
Environmental action includes policies, bylaws and best practices, reduce/reuse/recycle, waste reduction, landfill sites, water conservation, naturalization and environmentally friendly transportation.
Heritage conservation includes the efforts by those involved to preserve the heritage within the community. This would include overall preservation of traditions and customs through year-round festivals and celebrations, events and parades, heritage foods and the arts.
Fourth category is urban forestry which includes standard tree management such as selection, planting and maintenance, long- and short-term management plans, tree replacement policies, tree inventory, integrated pest management, heritage, memorial and commemorative trees.
Landscaping category includes the community's efforts to create an environment showcasing the overall surroundings focusing on balance of plants, materials and constructed materials, landscape design and appropriate integration of hard surfaces and art elements.
Turf and groundcovers relates to turf management projects, best practices and good use of groundcovers.
Floral displays is the category that most people associate Communities in Bloom with. This category is evaluated on designing, planning, executing and maintaining floral displays of high quality standards. This includes the design and arrangements of flowers and plants such as annuals, perennials, bulbs and ornamental grasses in the context of originality, distribution, location, diversity and balance, colour and harmony. This pertains to flowerbeds, containers, baskets and window boxes.
Lastly, community involvement includes participating in various community programs and projects. This category has become a key sector in each of the categories and encourages recognition of volunteers and support towards community initiatives by municipal, business and private sectors.
Currently the Hafford CiB organization operates on monies raised through fundraising efforts and some local business donations. 'Bloomers' is a colourful paper outline of a flower that can be purchased by supporters of the community initiative. A Bloomometer is on display at the Redberry Pharmacy in Hafford indicating that $1,000 has been raised to date from sales of the paper flowers. The organization is also grateful for the most recent donation of $5,000 from Innovation Credit Union Hafford branch.
Hafford CiB executive consists of Sylvia Ruedger as chairperson, Eva Sarty as co-chair, Donna Thompson as secretary and Margaret Schoepp as treasurer. Other dedicated volunteer members include Karen MacNutt, Rick Ruedger, Meghan Ruedger, April Lafreniere, Julie Prebushewski, Valerie Kingsmill and Ray Prysliak.
Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement with focus on green spaces in the community setting. Any community can participate in a non-competitive category but communities participating in the judging will be judged in August and be categorized with other communities based on similar population statistics.
The goal of Hafford's Communities in Bloom members is to prepare for the town and rural municipality's centennial celebrations in 2013.
