Charlottetown is the new Best Blooming Community in Canada

By AMY MCGEOGHEGAN

Charlottetown has won the Best Blooming Community in Canada award.

The city of Vaughn hosted the 15^th edition of the Communities in Bloom national awards ceremony on Oct. 3 honouring municipalities from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland and Japan.

Charlottetown won the Best Blooming Community prize for earning the highest total score in the WinterLights Celebrations and the Communities in Bloom programs this year.

Wayne Long, events development officer for the city, said the award reinforces why Charlottetown is a great place.

“It’s why our city tagline is ‘Great things happen here.’”

Charlottetown also received a 5 Bloom rating and a special mention for the expansion of “Adopt a Corner.”

The Adopt-A-Corner beautification occurs in 48 sites in Charlottetown. The corners were originally ugly and dull, now they are beautifully transformed with flowers and shrubs donated by local businesses.

The program is about working with the local business community, said Karen Lavers, coordinator of Communities in Bloom.

“It’s not the city who receives the award, it’s the community.”

Summerside, a finalist in the circle of excellence, also received a 5 Bloom rating and a special mention for The Baywalk. 


Montague and Souris received honourable mentions for towns with populations of 1,000 to 3,000, were. Both received 5 Bloom ratings, Montague for its work on Shoreline Protection in the River Park and Souris for their Renovations on Main Street. Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization “committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility, and beautification through community involvement and the challenge of a national program, with a focus on the promotion of green spaces in urban settings,” its website says.