The Town of Sexsmith received a four out of five bloom rating from Communities in Bloom.
The non-profit awards communities based on population category and criteria, and judges award the community with a “bloom rating” from one to five blooms. Wellness Coordinator for the Town of Sexsmith Melody Sample says the high rating is meaningful, as it validates the hard work community members have put into their gardens this year.
“It really encourages the gardeners and the people who take the extra time to make their yards beautiful and tidy, and it really is a lovely reflection of the community,” she says. “It means that we’re doing well, and we have a good base to go from, we have done a lot of work with our historical buildings, and beautifying the greenspaces within town.”
Additionally, Sample says the four out of five rating leaves room for improvement, and the community plans to use feedback to be even better next year.
“It’s a really great honour that we did get the four blooms, and good feedback that we can take back and find areas that we can improve on, and where we can tweak things so that we can just get better, which is really what we want to do.”
“We’re definitely looking forward to running again next year and even expanding on what we did this year.”
Sample says that Sexsmith is proud of the work that has been made in the sustainability sector in the community as well, between the community garden and the town’s solar farm beginning operations in 2020.
“All that gets taken into consideration in their rating.”
“We don’t have the same budget or volunteer base or staff base as some larger communities, so as a small community it does take a lot of hands to make a difference and that’s what we found this year.”
The local Communities in Bloom branch also awarded local gardener Jeff Peters with the 1st place prize for his 2023 garden in August.
