Communities in Bloom judges Odette Dumais and Gordon Barstow will be touring North Bay today as part of the competition.
Communities in Bloom judges Odette Dumais and Gordon Barstow will be touring North Bay today as part of the competition.___________________________________________________________
Gordon Barstow hasn't seen much of North Bay, but the
Communities in Bloom judge seems impressed so far.
Barstow and Communities in Bloom judge Odette Dumais are here today checking North Bay out for the nation-wide competition.
"It’s fantastic, actually," said Barston, manager of the parks department in Richmond, B.C.
"The amount of spirit and energy in your community is awesome."
Barstow and Dumais will be judging North Bay on eight criteria: floral displays, landscapes, turf, urban forestry, community involvement, heritage conservation, environmental awareness and tidiness.
"It's not just about flowers," Barstow said, "it’s about community development."
North Bay goes up against eight other Canadian cities in its size category: Maple Ridge and Kamloops, in British Columbia, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge,and Sherwood Park, in Alberta, Kawartha Lakes, in Ontario, and Moncton and St. John, in New Brunswick.
"We work on a thousand points grid for each criteria," Barstow said.
"And we look at what the city does, community participation, and and the participation of the industrial or commercial sector."
After the judges arrived at the Clarion Resort-Pinewood Park Thursday afternoon,they spent several hours looking at displays which showed each of the eight criteria in a microcosm.
"These people are very enthusiastic and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the community," said Dumais, a Montrealer who has worked for her city's parks department for 26 years and also trains other CIB judges.
"They showed us many projects and tomorrow we’re going to see them in full and it’s going to be very interesting."
Winners will be announced Sept. 18 at a ceremony in Charlottetown, PEI.
