This past Saturday, September 16, 2017, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan won the Communities in Bloom National Competition for communities with populations under 4,500 residents. The town of just over 2,000 received a 5 Blooms - Bronze rating with a special mention for Innovative Landfill Site during the 2017 National & International Symposium and Awards Ceremonies in Ottawa-Gatineau. Maple Creek competed against Bruderheim AB, Hanna AB, Merrickville-Wolford ON, Valhalla Centre AB, and Windsor NS.
"This award really belongs to everybody to everyone that lives in the community, an award like this cannot be won just by the efforts of the town or committee. It takes every resident, every business, and every non-profit organization to make a commitment to improving the first impressions of the community. It's marketing for the community you cannot buy…Really what it is, is the bragging rights of being the CiB national winner."
- Royce Pettyjohn, manager of community and economic development for the Town of Maple Creek
"Under the diligent and committed care of the new caretaker, the landfill presents a pristine business front with neat compartments of sorted garbage and a friendly entrance with potted plants, birdhouses atop fence posts, recycled ornaments, a tempting 3-hole golf course, and seasonal lighting,” wrote the judges. What a contribution to CiB’s beautification program! For the residents of Maple Creek, bringing their refuse, waste materials and recyclable or re-usable items to the landfill has become a pleasing and gratifying task.”
- Lucy Chang and Louise Dumouchel, Communities in Bloom volunteer judges
Maple Creek has a very active Communities in Bloom community with a dedicated page on the Town of Maple Creek’s website, a Facebook page, Twitter account, weekly contests (such as Yard of the Week) and regular programming (held at the Maple Creek Library). This is the first time Maple Creek won an award at the national level, previously having won at the provincial level.
“Thanks to our great community of Maple Creek, we are bringing home the hardware, (We want) to let everyone know how important this is, it’s like the Stanley Cup of competitive gardening.”
- Nola Sanderson with the Maple Creek Communities in Bloom committee.
In the News:
Maple Creek named a national Communities in Bloom champion
Maple Creek, Brooks earn national Communities in Bloom awards
Town of Maple Creek Communities in Bloom committee big winners at National Awards
Maple Creek tops the nation
For more information on Communities in Bloom, contact Andrew Exelby, SPRA Consultant - Parks and Open Spaces at (306) 780-9262 or by email at aexelbly@spra.sk.ca.
